Social Support for African-American Women with HIV / AIDS - Essay Example

Methods In a previous paper, Ive researched the effects of social support on African American women with HIV/AIDS, and discovered that the social support was very beneficial to them physically and mentally. It improved their psychological well-being, reduced their depression levels which were very high and described by them as a greater problem than the AIDS and helped them cope with the situation better (Carels, Boucom, Leone & Rigney, 1998; Blaney, Fernandez, Ethien, Wilson, Walter & Koenig, 2004). It reduced their stress and even increased their adherence to taking medications (J.D.L, 2003; Siegel, Schrimshaw & Pretter, 2005). Basically, it helped them live better and happier lives, and it was also shown that it could enhance their lifespan (Gurung, Taylor, Kemeny & Myers, 2004). Clearly, it has had tremendous and crucial effects on their lives, and that is why Im further investigating this important subject in a new study Im working on. In it, Im examining the results of two groups of people with HIV/AIDS, each exposed to a very different level of social support, and making conclusions based on all the knowledge I will have gathered from the experiment. I hypothesize that African American women from the group receiving social support will be experiencing the best results and improvements, seeing as how they are more likely to be discriminated against or less paid attention to in reality, since being of two minorities, women and African Americans. I generally think that the women will have better positive results than the men, as the racial group benefiting the most will be African American, then Hispanic and then the Caucasian. My sample is consisted of 100 participants, 50 of which are men and 50 are women. They are all aged 20- 35, and are from different races, among which are African American, Hispanic are Caucasian, equally divided. They were all properly educated. I recruited them by approaching local hospitals and asking for their assistance and intermediation between those people and me, explaining it is for a comprehensive study which could yield very positive effects. After having contacted certain associations for ill people, Ive managed to get their consent to provide incentives for the participants- 2 day vacation at a local hotel and spa, to be used after the experiment. There were independent and dependent variables in the study. The independent ones age, race and sex (education level were similar to all of them, and this is why it could be excluded and not be an independent variable), as the dependent variables are the effects of the people- anxiety level, depression level, happiness, hopefulness. These will be tested by several operational definitions such as interviews and journals the participants will be asked to keep. The experiment will take place at the hotel decided upon, in which the two groups will be separated, as one is experiencing a lot of social support, and the other isnt. To carry out the experiment, I first contacted the hospitals and asked for their approval of my experiment and their consent to help me locate participants for the study which will be suitable to my study (an equal amount of men and women with an average education, one third Caucasian, one third African American and one third Hispanic, ranging between 20 and 35 of age). I then contacted several associations of making wishes come true for people with different illnesses or helping them, and finally got their approval to let the participants spend a 2 day vacation at a local hotel. I then found people willing to participate and interviewed them, explaining the course and purposes of the study and what I hope to achieve or find out. During their interviews, I asked them how was their general feeling at the time, and then asked them to grade their anxiety level, depression level, happiness and hopefulness on a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being the highest. They were asked to fill in the survey every two weeks, meaning two weeks into the experiment, one month into it, one and a half month into it and at its completion at two months time. The materials or measures which I used in the experiment were the surveys and interviews written on papers and notebooks that were given to the participants and were used as journals, which I will review after the completion of the experiment. Discussion As I previously stated, I expect the African American women receiving social support to have the best effects. I believe the women in general will receive better results than the men, as the African Americans are with the best results and the Caucasian with the worst. I dont know whether my hypothesis be revealed as true or false, but I believe that race will play a major role, and people who are more likely to be discriminated against (women or racial minorities) will gain the most out of being socially supported by their family and friends who will be permitted (and instructed, actually) to come visit the participants in the hotel, as the other group doesnt get many visits from close people. My hypothesis doesnt have support from the current literature on the subject. There is no research proving or discrediting my hypothesis, so my results will reveal new information about the subject. If the findings arent consistent with my hypothesis and theory, than it will mean that either race doesnt play a major role in determining the extent of the effects on these people, or that it does, but that its effects are greater in Hispanic people or Caucasian ones. However, if the findings are consistent with what Ive suggested, then itll prove what I suspect- that race does indeed play a great role here, and that minorities (whether in race of sex) will have the greatest positive effects. There are, however, unexpected factors that could influence the results. Age could also have something to do with the effects gained by the social support, and it could affect my results and change their accuracy. Since Im not focusing the significance of age in this matter (though paying attention to it and taking it under consideration), it could somewhat affect my results. Consequently, one of the shortcomings of the study is having the age variable possibly affecting my results to a certain degree. Another flaw of my research is that although it reveals how much social support was beneficial to the participants, it doesnt provide another division of them according to their psychological state at the beginning of the experiment. In other words, the research doesnt specifically check if those who were very depressed, somewhat depressed or least depressed gained the best results. Future research which can be done to continue my research could involve more variables, like examining the effects of age and different education levels on the results. Also, research can be done to see which types of social support are preferable, and to whom, as was previously investigated (Owens, 2003). Meaning, if the participants would prefer to receive support from family and friends, or rather from strangers. Another thing that can be further tested is the adherence of participants to taking medications based on the amount of social support they are receivin. Many other variables or examinations can also be done to further enhance future studies and the knowledge we will yield from them. References Blaney M.T, Fernandez M.I, Ethien K.A, Wilson T.E, Walter E & Koenig L.G (2004). Psychosocial and Behavioral Correlates of Depression among HIV- Infected Pregnant Women. AIDS Patient Care & STDs, Vol. 18 (Issue 7), p. 405- 415. Carels R.A, Boucom D.H, Leone P & Rigney A (1998). Psychosocial factors and psychological symptoms: HIV in a public health setting. Journal of Community Psychology, Vol. 26 (Issue 2), p. 145-162. Gurung A.R, Taylor S.E, Kemeny M & Myers H (2004). "HIV IS NOT MY BIGGEST PROBLEM": THE IMPACT OF HIV AND CHRONIC BURDEN ON DEPRESSION IN WOMEN AT RISK FOR AIDS. Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, Vol. 23 (Issue 4), p. 490-511. J.D.L (2003). Influencing Medication Adherence among Women with AIDS. AIDS care, Vol. 15 (Issue 4), p. 463. Owens, S (2003). African American Women Living with HIV/AIDS: Families as Sources of Support and of Stress. Social Work, Vol. 28 (Issue 2), p.163-171. Siegel K, Schrimshaw E.W & Pretter S (2005). Stress-Related Growth among Women Living with HIV/AIDS: Examination of an Explanatory Model. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Vol. 28 (Issue 5), p.403-414. Read More