Stress-related growth of HIV/AIDS patients: Role of religion and self-esteem in mitigating perceived discrimination

Objective: Objectives of the present research were to i) examine association between levels of religiosity, self-esteem, perceived discrimination and stress related growth among HIV/AIDS patients and ii) find out the mediating effect of self-esteem on perceived discrimination and stress related growth among HIV/AIDS patients. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted on respondents registered in VCCT (Voluntary Confidential Counseling & testing) center at Civil Hospital of Jalal Pur Jattan, Gujrat. Total sample of 247 patients was selected on the basis of two stage stratified simple random sampling technique. After taking verbal consent from respondents, data was collected from HIV/AIDS patients by using a structured questionnaire. Analysis was performed by using SPSS version 21. Results: Results of descriptive analysis showed that majority of respondents belonged to age group 29-37 (39.5%). Educational attainment of majority of the respondents was 6-11 years 95(38.3%), whereas, 27.4% of the respondents had monthly household income between Rs.10001-20000. Religiosity had strong correlation with self-esteem whereas it was negatively correlated with perceived discrimination. Perceived discrimination and level of stress related growth were negatively correlated with each other. Conclusion: Results of correlation and regression analysis showed that level of religiosity and self-esteem had significant effects in reducing perceived discrimination among HIV/AIDS patients. The reduced perceived discrimination further assisted in improving the stress related growth among respondents.