Psychological Assessment and Management of Death Anxiety, Self-Esteem and Somatisation Among People Living with HIV/AIDS (A Case Study of Apin Clinics, In Some Selected Hospitals Across South Western,Nigeria)

Abstract

The psychological problems of persons living with HIV/AIDS in Nigerian cities have not been systematically documented.  This study is a pre-test and post test experimental study of the assessment and management of death anxiety, self esteem (low) and somatisation among a randomly selected sample of 160 people living with HIV/AIDS and 160 HIV seronegative people. The main objectives of the study were to determine the presence of psychological distress among persons living with HIV/AIDS and to assess the effectiveness of psychological interventions in providing relief from these distressing symptoms. The psychological intervention utilized in the study was client centred group therapy in conjunction with relaxation training. The psychological instruments used were administered to the study participants in the pre-test and post test assessments. The one-way Analysis of variance, the t-independent test and f-scheffe multiple comparison tests were used in analyzing data. The study indicates that there were significantly higher levels of death anxiety, somatisation and low self esteem among persons living with HIV/AIDS compared with HIV seronegative persons. it was observed that client centred group therapy in conjunction with relaxation training could effectively lead to reduction in death anxiety. The most prominent effect of the therapeutic intervention was observed in relation to improvement in self esteem. It was recommended that Governmental Agencies that are saddled with responsibility of giving care to the victims put into consideration the psychological treatment as hallmark to lessen the burden of the disease thus improving well being and quality of life among HIV/AIDS persons.

Keywords: Death anxiety, Self-esteem, Somatisation Psychological intervention, HIV/AIDS.

DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/11-2-03

Publication date: January 31^st 2021