A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY OF CHALLENGES AND BARRIERS OF PSYCHO SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT TO HIV POSITIVE STATUS FACED BY HIV POSITIVE ADOLESCENTS IN JAMNAGAR DISTRICT

Background: Adolescents constitute 22% of Indias population.There are total 5.8 million people living with HIV in India, 2018. Over 35% of all reported AIDS cases in India occur among young people in the age group of 15-24 years. Aim & Objectives: To document the factors affecting the psycho- social adjustment to HIV Positive status among HIV Positive adolescents. Material &Method: It was a hospital based cross sectional study (quantitative component).There were 108 HIV positive adolescents registered upto February, 2020 at ART Centre, Jamnagar (Tertiary care institute), Gujarat. Out of 108 HIV positive adolescents, I approached 84 adolescents during their regular monthly follow up visit for treatment and counselling at ART center. 24 subjects from ART register were not included in this study because either lost to follow up at ART center or death. Out of 84 subjects only 77 were disclosed their HIV status and consented to be enrolled and interviewed under the study. Pretested semi-structured questionnaire provided to participants which containing socio-demographic information, issues during transition for adjustment within the family and society and status disclosure were filled up for quantitative data. Study was approved by Institutional Ethical Committee, shrim.p.shahgovt medical college, Jamnagar, gujarat and also approved by Gujarat state AIDS Control Society, Ahmedabad. Results:Mean age of participants was 14.88 years (SD± 2.52). Most of them were boys (55.80%) and Hindu by cast (92.20%). Majority of the participants belonged to Nuclear type of family (87.01%) and living with biological parent/parents (87.01%). Majority participants had their mother positive (80.51%) followed by father (66.23%). Majority of the participants were disclosed about their status by first degree relative (mostly mother or father) (75.32%). Only 1(1.31%) participants, reported problem in consuming medicine after transition to adult clinic. Conclusion: Stigma and Discrimination plays a pivotal role in the psychological health of HIV adolescents and loss of parents was found to have a significant impact on the psycho-social adjustment among these adolescents. The knowledge regarding the spread of HIV & its various routes of transmission was found to be low in some study participants.