Stress Coping in People with HIV Positive - Coursework Example

Stress Coping in People with HIV Positive Total Number of Words: 2,032 Introduction Because of the presence of racism, high levels of unemployment, and the absence of available community support group (Peterson, Folkman, & Bakeman, 1996), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is a sexually transmitted disease that could cause serious depression on infected individuals. People who were tested positive for HIV infection are likely to develop acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Since the treatment for AIDS is not yet discovered, this group of individuals are often experiencing high level of stress. Considering the case of individuals who have been tested for HIV positive, a literature review will be gathered to identify the possible sources of stressor. After discussing the possible treatment and prevention approaches used in people with HIV, strategic ways on how health care professionals can enable them to cope with the psychological distress associated with the disease will be thoroughly discussed. By going through a personal reflection, the health situation will be applied in Hong Kong particularly on how the HK government is promoting safer sex practice. Possible Sources of Stressor HIV Infection as a Life-threatening Disease The fact that HIV infection is a life-threatening disease is already considered as a major source of stress among the HIV infected individuals. (Riggs, Vosvick, & Stalling, 2007) Individuals who were informed by their physicians that ‘they only have few months to live’ could negatively affect the physical functioning, psychological, social, and emotional well-being of the person. As a result, some of the HIV infected people loses their hope to be treated and cured from the disease. HIV infected individuals would tend to withdraw from their social life aside from putting an end to their relationship with their love ones (Wadland & Gleeson, 1991). In most cases, there is a strong possibility for HIV infected individuals to unconsciously use other maladaptive coping strategies including denial, disengagement, and/or abusing the use of illegal substances (Gore-Felton et al., 2006; Komiti et al., 2003). Financial Distress Aside from the having the thought that the life span of HIV infected individuals is already limited, it is likely that these individuals would seek medical assistance from professional medical team. Basically, the cost of treating and promoting a better quality life for HIV infected individuals can be very costly not only on the part of the HIV infected individual himself but also to his family members. In line with the high cost of medical intervention, we can consider the financial burden of becoming infected with HIV as another source of stress (Riggs, Vosvick, & Stalling, 2007). According to Catz, Gore-Felton and McClure (2002), HIV infected individuals who belongs to the low-income group are more likely to experience psychological distress due to the fact that they lack the financial means to seek proper medical assistance from health care professionals. Because of lack of financial resources, HIV infected individuals who belongs to the low-income group often receive lesser coping strategy intervention and access to social support group. Similar to the research findings of Catz, Gore-Felton and McClure (2002), it was confirmed in the study of Koopman et al. (2000) that HIV infected individuals who belongs to the lower income group aside from those who emotionally and behaviorally disengage themselves from coping with their illness due to anxiousness and lack of interests in interpersonal relationship with other people are the ones who experiences a high level of stress. Fear of Becoming Socially Deprived There are a lot of people who are not well-informed on how HIV infection can be transmitted from one person to another. Since most people are aware that there is no cure for HIV or AIDS infection, HIV negative people tend to develop fear of becoming physically acquainted with individuals who are HIV positive. In line with this matter, the fear of being discriminated is considered as another source of stressor. This is one common factor that makes HIV positive individual tend to withdraw themselves from social activities. Since most of the HIV infected individuals may anticipate social rejection, HIV positive individuals may develop negative feelings such as self-hatred (Herek, 1990). Pain Associated with HIV Becoming infected with HIV can cause from mild to severe pain which hinders people with HIV in performing their normal daily activities. Given the fact that pain associated with HIV infection can decrease the four dimensions of functioning quality of life including: (1) physical functioning; (2) energy level; (3) social functioning, and (4) role functioning (Vosvick et al., 2003); it is possible for us to consider pain as a form of stressor on the part of people who are infected with retroviruses. Other Sources of Stressor Other source of stressor includes the poor coping ability of the HIV infected individuals in dealing with the said disease. (Vosvick et al., 2004; Loserman et al., 2002) As a result, HIV positive individuals may experience difficulty in sleeping, become more emotionally and psychologically depressed which could worsen their health condition. Given that HIV infected individuals are often experiencing lower energy level and social functioning (Vosvick et al., 2003), the immunity levels of HIV infected individuals weakens causing an increase in the risk that they would develop AIDS (Vosvick et al., 2004). Possible Treatment and Prevention Approaches Used in People with HIV The Application of Combination Therapy Combination therapy, containing two to four antiretroviral agents, is commonly used in treating patients with HIV infection. A good example of combination therapy is the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Basically, HAART is “a combination of 2 nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors plus a protease inhibitor or a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor; and/or two protease inhibitors and one other antiretroviral agent” (Johnson, 2004, p. 5). Upon examining the impact of HAART on HIV-infected women, Siegel and Schrimshaw (2005) concluded that the use of HAART could prolong the survival of HIV-infected individuals but not improve the psychosocial difficulties of the people with HIV positive. Pharmacological Medication There are lists of pharmacological drug intervention used in slowing down the growth of retroviral infection among individuals with HIV. However, Benavides and Nahata (2004) concluded that there is no specific pharmacological drug exists that could effectively treat the changes of HIV-associated lipodystrophy. Therefore, it is strongly advice that physicians should weigh the advantages and disadvantages of using pharmacological drugs. For instance: Administering metformin and thiazolidinediones to patients with HIV infection may have positive effect on the patients’ metabolic functioning. However, these drugs cannot be used in treating compositional changes that are associated with lipodystrophy of patients with HIV (Benavides & Nahata, 2004). In fact, the longitudinal study that was conducted by Lucas et al. (2006) concluded that the active use of pharmacological drugs can be linked to the progression of HIV and increased in mortality rate among patients with retrovirus infection. Complementary and Alternative Medicine Since people who are infected with HIV may experience mild to severe chronic pain, improving the pain management through pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions given to the patient can significantly improve their quality of life. Aside from pharmacological medications used in treating people with HIV infection, alternative therapies such as taking one or more multi-vitamins, mineral supplements, Chinese herbs, botanicals, acupuncture, massage, and meditation. Upon examining the health benefits of using alternative therapies on people with HIV infection, Gore-Felton et al. (2003) concluded that there is a strong need to further re-assess the use of alternative therapy approaches on patients who are positively infected with HIV. With regards to the use of complementary and alternative medicine in treating patients with HIV-AIDS, Power et al. (2002) the psychological and physical outcomes of using contemporary and alternative medicine on patients who are infected with HIV should be given importance. Importance of Social Group Intervention Several recent studies suggest that encouraging HIV infected individuals to actively join a social support group could effectively protect people with HIV infection from becoming seriously depressed in life. (Ashton et al., 2005; Komiti et al., 2003) Basically, social intervention which allows the HIV infected individuals to become acquainted with other HIV infected people can increase their chances of being able to develop friendship with other people. In the end, strengthening the relationship or bond with other people can effectively lessen their emotional depression. Commonly Used Prevention Approaches There are quite a lot of prevention approaches used in minimizing a person’s risk of becoming infected with HIV. First, the practice of safe sex by using condom is one way of protecting ourselves from having the need to face the physical, mental, psychological and social consequences of having HIV. (Somlai et al., 2002) Aside from the use of condom, staying with only one sexual partner is one of the best ways to prevent HIV. Likewise, heterosexual intercourse with HIV infected partner and male homosexual relations should be avoided. Another way of protecting ourselves from being infected with retroviruses is to educate the people to be careful when handling needles. In line with this matter, encouraging people not to practice the use of illegal drugs is necessary (Somlai et al., 2002). Since retroviruses can be transmitted from one person to another by blood, sharing injection needles would mean increasing the risk that the drug user will become infected with HIV. In case expectant mother is infected with HIV positive, breastfeeding should not be encourage since consumption of human milk that is infected with HIV could be transferred to the newborn baby (Havens & Committee on Pediatric AIDS, 2003). Effort of HK Government in Promoting Safer Sex Practice In Hong Kong, the number of homosexual men who are HIV infected has significantly increased. The HK government publicly announced that a total of 91 new cases of HIV infection were reported during the first quarter of 2007 as compared to 89 individuals back in 2006. (Tan, 2009) In order to promote safe sex practice, HK government together with the Education Department strongly support and implement sex and AIDS education in schools and universities throughout the country (APCC, 2000, No. 17). Basically, the local school authorities were given the privilege to design their own educational curriculum on sex education. Aside from printing other educational materials related to HIV/AIDS, one of the strategies used by the Education Department is by publishing a guideline on how one can protect themselves from blood-borne diseases back in 1994. HK government is not only reaching out with the educational institutions. As a strategic way of reaching out to those individuals who are out-of-school youth, HK government has established a Local Task force on Youth which is headed by the AIDS Prevention and Care Committee (APCC) in order to render free HIV/AIDS education within the different local community areas (ibid). HK government is not the only public institution that seeks to fight the spread of HIV infection among the youth. There are also some non-government organization (NGO) such as the Hong Kong AIDS Foundation and Teen AIDS that is being funded and subsidized by a little more than 20 community-based HIV/AIDS educational support group for the young population (APCC, 2000, No. 18 & 19). Conclusion The number of HIV infected individuals who live in Hong Kong has significantly increased over the past few years. Up to the present time, there is really no found treatment that can cure HIV infection. Considering the fact that prevention is always better than cure, HK government should work together with the Department of Health in terms of educating the general public on how they can protect themselves from becoming infected with retroviruses. To enable the HIV infected individuals cope with the psychological and social distress, health care professionals should consider the use of complementary and alternative medicine since this type of intervention does not cause any physical harm on the patients’ body which could only cause serious health degradation. Likewise, the use of this type of medical intervention could lessen the burden and anxiety felt by the HIV infected individuals. Aside from the use of complementary and alternative medicine, health care professionals should encourage HIV infected individuals to join social groups that are designed for HIV infected individuals. Basically, allowing these people to mingle with one another could help them boost their self-confidence as some of them would exert an effort in trying to search for other alternative medicines that can be used to cure the said disease. *** End *** References APCC. (2000, December). Retrieved April 10, 2009, from HIV Prevention in Hong Kong. Strategy Series. HIV Prevention and Care in Youth. Principles of Strategy: http://www.hivpolicy.org/Library/HPP000145.pdf Ashton, E., Vosvick, M., Chesney, M., Gore-Felton, C., Koopman, C., OShea, K., et al. (2005). Social support and dysfunctional coping as predictors of change in physical health symptoms among persons with HIV/AIDS. AIDS Patient Care and STDs , 19(9):587 - 598. Benavides, S., & Nahata, M. (2004). Pharmacologic Therapy for HIV-Associated Lipodystrophy. The Annals of Pharmacotherapy , 38(3):448 - 457. Catz, S., Gore-Felton, C., & McClure, J. (2002). Psychological distress among minority and low-income women living with HIV. 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