Research trends in psychosocial aspects of HIV-AIDS are reviewed, exploring the role of psychosocial cofactors in disease progression. This is undertaken within a biopsychosocial model and gives cognisance to the role of psychosocial stress, social support, and emotional adjustment. Research data from a study of biopsychosocial interrelationships in a sample of HIV-positive patients show a significant correlation between social support and emotional adjustment and that social support exerts a mediatory, stress-buffering effect in these patients. Some observations are made on aspects of the social conditions of South Africans with HIV-AIDS.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AbramsD.I. (1986). Issues of the medical treatment of AIDS relevant to the mental health practitioners. In McKusickL. (Ed.), What to do about AIDS. (pp. 12–24). Berkeley: University of California Press.
2.
BatchelorW.R. (1984). AIDS: a public health and psychological emergency. American Psychologist, 39, 1270–1284.
3.
BerkmanL.F.SymeS.L. (1979). Social networks, host resistance and mortality: a nine-year follow-up study of Almeda County residents. American Journal of Epidemiology, 109, 186–204.
4.
BrandtE.N. (1987). AIDS: Social, scientific and health policy perspectives. In GottliebM.S.JeffriesD.J.MildvanD.PinchingA.J.QuinnT.C.WeissR. A. (Eds), Currant topics in AIDS. (Vol. 1) (pp. 1–5). Chichester: Wiley-Interscience.
5.
CasselJ. (1970). The contribution of the social environment to host resistance. American Journal of Epidemiology, 194, 107–123.
6.
CassidyM.J. (1991). Psychosocial stress, social support, and emotional adjustment in HIV-AIDS. Unpublished masters dissertation. University of Durban-Westville.
7.
CassidyM.J.SchlebuschL. (1993). Biopsychosocial factors in HIV-AIDS: psychoneuroimmunological implications. African Journal of Neurosciences, 1, 11.
8.
ChaungH.T.DevinsG.M.HunsleyJ.GillM.J. (1989). Psychosocial distress and well-being among gay and bisexual men with human immunodeficiency virus infection. American Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 876–880.
9.
CoatesT.J.TemoshokL.MandelJ. (1984). Psychosocial research is essential to understanding and treating AIDS. American Psychologist, 9, 1309–1314.
10.
CobbS. (1976). Social support as a moderator of life stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 38, 300–314.
11.
CohenS.EvansG.W.StokolsD.KrantzD.S. (1986). Behavior, health, and environmental stress. New York: Plenum Press.
12.
CoyneJ.C.HolroydK. (1982). Stress, coping, and illness: a transactional perspective. In MillonT.GreenC.MeagherR. (Eds), Handbook of clinical health psychology. (pp. 103–127). New York: Plenum.
13.
Critical Health Editorial Collective (1988). AIDS in South Africa: progressive perspectives. Critical Health, 22, April 1988.
14.
DohrenwendB.S.DohrenwendB.P. (1982). Some issues in research on stressful life events. In MillonT.GreenC.MeagherR. (Eds), Handbook of clinical health psychology. (pp. 91–102). New York: Plenum.
15.
FisherS.ReasonJ. (Eds) (1988). Handbook of life stress, cognition and health. Cinchester: Wiley.
16.
FordC.V. (1983). The somatizing disorders: illness as a way of life. New York: Elsevier Biomedical.
17.
GochmanD.S. (Ed.) (1988). Health behavior. New York: Plenum.
18.
GormanJ.M.KertznerR.TodakG.GoetzR.R.WilliamsJ.B.W.RabkinJ.Meyer-BahlbergH.F.L.MayeauxR.SternY.LangeM.DobkinJ.SpitzerR.EhrhardtA.A. (1991). Multidisciplinary baseline assessment of homosexual men with and without human immunodeficiency virus infection. Archives of General Psychiatry, 48, 120–123.
19.
HolmesT.H.RaheR.H. (1967). The social readjustment rating scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 11, 213–218.
20.
KesslerR.C.FosterC.JosephJ.OstrowD.WortmanC.B.PhairJ.ChmielJ. (1991). Stressful life events and symptom onset in HIV infection. American Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 733–738.
21.
KirbyM. (1988). The ten paradoxes of AIDS — summing up the conference. In FlemingA.F.CarballoM.FitzsimonsD.W.BaileyM.R.MannJ. (Eds), The global impact of AIDS. (pp. 397–402). New York: Alan R. Liss, Inc.
22.
LivingstoneB. (1988). AIDS: psychological and social perspectives. Critical Health, 22, 29–33.
23.
LloydG.A. (1988). HIV-infection, AIDS, and family disruption. In FlemingA.F.CarballoM.FitzsimonsD.W.BaileyM.R.MannJ. (Eds), The global impact of AIDS. (pp. 183–190). New York: Alan R. Liss, Inc.
24.
MacksJ.TurnerD. (1986). Mental health issues of persons with AIDS. In MckusickL. (Ed.), What to do about AIDS. (pp. 111–124). Berkeley: University of California Press.
25.
MartinJ.L.VanceC.S. (1984). Behavioral and psychosocial factors in AIDS: methodological and substantive issues. American Psychologist, 39, 1303–1308.
26.
MildvanD.SolomonS.L. (1987). The spectrum of disease due to human immunodeficiency virus infection. In CottliebM.S.JeffriesD.J.MildvanD.PinchingA.J.QuinnT.C.WeissR.A. (Eds), Current topics in AIDS. (Vol. 1) (pp. 31–55). Chichester: Wiley Interscience.
27.
MillerD. (1987). Living with AIDS and HIV. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan Press.
28.
MillerD. (1988). HIV and social psychiatry. British Medical Bulletin, 44, 130–148.
29.
MillonT. (1982). On the nature of clinical health psychology. In MillonT.GreenC.MeagherR. (Eds), Handbook of clinical health psychology. (pp. 1–27). New York: Plenum.
30.
MorinS.F.CharlesK.S.MalyonA.K. (1984). The psychological impact of AIDS on gay men. American Psychologist, 39, 1288–1293.
31.
NicholsS.E. (1987). An overview of the psychological and social reactions to AIDS. In GluckmanJ. C.VilmerE. (Eds), Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (Eds). (261–269). Paris: Elsevier.
32.
OstrowD.G.MonjanA.JosephJ.van RadenM.FoxR.KingsleyL.DudleyJ.PhairS. (1989). HIV-related symptoms and psychological functioning in a cohort of homosexual men. American Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 737–742.
33.
PinchingA.J.ParkinJ.M. (1987). Clinical snippets. In GottliebM.S.JeffriesD.J.MildvanD.PinchingA.J.QuinnT.C.WeissR.A. (Eds), Current topics in AIDS. (Vol. 1) (pp. 247–260). Chichester: Wiley-Interscience.
34.
SarasonI.G.LevineH.M.SarasonB.R. (1982). Assessing the impact of life changes. In MillonT.GreenC.MeagherR. (Eds), Handbook of clinical health psychology. (pp. 377–399). New York: Plenum.
35.
SarasonI.G.SarasonB.R.PotterE.H.AntoniM.H. (1985). Life events, social support, and illness. Psychosomatic Medicine, 47, 156–163.
36.
SchlebuschL. (1990). Clinical health psychology. A behavioural medicine perspective. Halfway House, Johannesburg: Southern Book Publishers.
37.
SchlebuschL. (1993). Cancer can be beaten. A biopsychosocial approach. Durban: Sub-Department of Medically Applied Psychology, University of Natal.
38.
SchlebuschL.BedfordR.BoschB.A.du PreezM.R. (1991). Health care professionals' knowledge about AIDS, prejudice and attitudes towards AIDS. South African Journal of Psychology, 21, 247–254.
39.
SelyeH. (1976). The stress of life. New York: McGraw-Hill.
40.
SifrisD. (1988). Counselling AIDS patients and family. AIDS proceedings: selected papers and task group reports of the AIDS congress—strategies for Southern Africa 1988. (29 April–1 May 1988). Johannesburg.
41.
TemoshokL.van DykeC.ZegansL.S. (Eds), Emotions in health and illness: theoretical and research foundations. Orlando, Fa: Grune & Stratton.
42.
UllahP.BanksM.WarrP. (1985). Social support, social pressures and psychological distress during unemployment. Psychological Medicine, 15, 283–295.
43.
VernonS. W.JacksonG.L. (1989). Social support, prognosis and adjustment to breast cancer. In MarkidesK.S.CooperC.L. (Eds), Aging, stress and health. (pp. 165–198). Chichester: Wiley.
