Perceived Social Support as a Correlate of Coping Style in People Living with HIV

The danger of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a chronic illness, adversely affecting a person's mental health is high. Stressors and other consequences of HIV are affecting people's quality of life in a significant way. To manage all HIV-related negative outcomes people easily adopt certain coping strategies and use them consistently. Coping and social support are perceived as potential contributing elements in the survival journey and researchers emphasized them as an ineludible pair. Even though there are studies about the effectiveness of functional coping mechanisms, there are not many details about the different aspects of social support and how it directly affects coping. The goal of the present study is to explore the relationship between coping and aspects of social support among people living with HIV. 147 HIV-positive individuals in Kerala had their social support and coping mechanisms evaluated. Both personal interviews and questionnaires were used to conduct the assessment. Utilizing the bivariate correlation approach, the data were examined. Using coping mechanisms were positively connected with social support. The respondents used a range of coping mechanisms and reported high levels of social support.