Assessment of association between perceived stigma, social Support and substance abuse among clients at the Comprehensive care centre at the Coast province general hospital
Abstract
vi
ABSTRACT
Clients in Comprehensive Care Centres (CCC) usually face stigma and have poor social
support which results in poor coping mechanisms including substance (alcohol and illicit
drugs) abuse. The preva
lence of substance abuse among patients infected with the Human
Immuno
deficiency Virus (HIV) is
higher than t
hat in the general population.
HIV infected
patients abusing substances are not easily contracted into treatment which delays initiation of
Highly
Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART). Substance abuse also poses a great
challenge in adherence to management and prevention of Human Immunodeficiency
Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome contributing to
hi
gh morbidity and mortality.
The aim of this
descript
ive cross
-
sectional study
was to
explore the association between
perceived stigma, social support and substance abuse among Comprehensive Care Centre
clients at the Coast Province General Hospital
–
Mombasa. The CAGE
–
AID (acronym for
cut down, an
noyed, guilty, eye opener
–
adapted t
o include drug use) tool was
used to screen
patients for substance ab
use and a score of ≥2 was
considered significant.
A sample of 235
patients was
selected by c
on
venience sampling method.
Patients with a CAGE
-
AID score of
≥2 who consent
ed were
subjected to a socio
-
demographic questionnaire, the
multidimensional scale of pe
rceived social support and the HIV stigma instrument for People
Living With HIV/AID
S (PLWHA). Data analysis was
done using Statistical Packag
e for
Social Sciences version 21
.0
. Descriptive statistics were
used to examine demographic
char
acteristics
while t
he Pearson‟s Chi square
test
was
used to test the significance of
associ
ation between perceived stigma,
social supp
o
rt and substance abuse in HIV.
Multivariate analysis was further done to test for association between the variables.
The
confidence
interval
was set at 95%, p value at ≤
0.05.The
findings of the study demonstrate a
significant statistical association
between lack of social support, stigma and substance abuse
among people inf
ected with HIV/AIDS. In conclusion,
an a
ssessment of perceive
d stigma
a
nd social support is
instrumental in identifying HIV infected patients at risk of substance
abuse.
A reduction in perceived stigma among PLWHA and adequate social support would
come in handy in dealing with substance abuse in HIV/AIDS which
would see a red
uction in
HIV related morbidity and mortality.
HIV/AIDS patients with substance abuse disorders
should be linked with further counselling and probably psychiatric follow up. HIV/AIDS
support groups should be established
and membership encouraged
.
Publisher
University of Nairobi