Knowledge and Awareness of HIV/AIDS, Mental Health Problems, and Stigma among HIV/AIDS Children: A Mediation Analysis

Abstract

Stigma is a significant obstruction, restricting factor, and hurdle in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. It has serious psychosocial consequences for HIV/AIDS patients’ children. In India, 35% of maximum AIDS cases reported are in the most productive age bracket of 10–21 years, showing the younger population’s exposure to the infection. The goal of this study is to determine the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, as well as HIV/AIDS knowledge and awareness, and mental health problems among HIV/AIDS children. It also intends to investigate the relationship between these variables. Children with HIV/AIDS (n = 90) from Motilal Nehru Hospitals in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, were included in the study. To achieve the study’s goal, descriptive statistics, correlational, and regression analysis, as well as mediation analysis, were used. Correlational analysis reveals that, HIV/AIDS knowledge and awareness are considerably adversely connected with HIV/AIDS related stigma (r [88] = −0.448, p = 0.01), but mental health problems are strongly positively correlated with HIV/AIDS stigma (r [88] = 0.753, P = 0.01). Using hierarchical regression analysis, it was discovered that HIV/AIDS knowledge and awareness contributed 18.8% of the variation in HIV/AIDS stigma, while HIV/AIDS stigma contributed 45.9% of the variance in mental health problems. The results of the mediation analyses support the significance of HIV/AIDS stigma in mediating the affiliation concerning HIV/AIDS knowledge and awareness and mental health problems (r = −0.19, CI: [−0.661]–[−0.038] P = 0.024). These findings add to empirical evidence about psychological predictors and the observable consequences of H/A related stigma.