EFFECTS OF LOGOTHERAPY AND REASSURANCE ON ADJUSTMENT OF HIV POSITIVE YOUTHS TO  STIGMATIZATION

ABSTRACT
The study was designed to determine the effects of logotherapy and reassurance
counselling on HIV positive youths in Enugu State. The study was guided by
three research questions and three hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of
significance. A true experimental design was adopted for the study. A total of
32 HIV positive youths were used for the study. The instrument for data
collection was a 22 item questionnaire which was titled Adjustment scale
instrument for HIV positive youths (ASIHPY). The instrument was validated by
three experts, all from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The reliability of the
instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha statistics which yielded an
estimated value of 0.83. The HIV positive youths in the three experimental
groups were pretested with ASIHPY before receiving appropriate treatments on
logotherapy and reassurance counselling. After the treatments, ASIHPY was readministered
on both groups as post test. Mean and standard deviation were
used to answer the four research questions while Analysis of Covariance,
(ANCOVA) was used to test the three hypotheses posed. It was found that: the
two treatment groups had better adjustment as shown by their pretest posttest
mean differences. Also, gender had a significant influence on the HIV positive
youths. It was recommended that guidance counsellors, educational
psychologists should plan a programme of intervention based on the principles
for HIV positive youths adjustment; and the federal and state ministries of
Education should organize and sponsor workshops and seminars for educational
psychologists and school guidance counsellors on how to implement
logotherapy and reassurance counselling techniques.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Human Imuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) is a viral infection that has the
effects of destroying the body’s immune system, a situation called “Acquired
Immuno-deficiency Syndrome” (AIDS). AIDS is a fatal disease in which the
human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) gradually destroys the ability of the
immune system to fight off a wide range of infectious agents (National Action
Committee on AIDS-NACA, 2007). Researches on AIDS had shown that HIV
is transmitted through blood contact, sexual intercourse with an infected person,
sharing of sharp body piercing objects, homosexual contacts and mother to child
transmission during pregnancy, labour and breast feeding (NACA, 2007). The
mode of transmission of HIV makes it very vulnerable to be transmitted from
one person to another (NACA, 2007). Since the first case of HIV was reported
in 1981, millions of people had died globally from the infection. For instance, in
2008 the estimated number of people living with HIV in Nigeria was projected
at 2.95 million while the cumulative AIDS death was estimated at 280,000
people annually, (National HIV Sero-prevalence Sentinel Survey: Preliminary
findings, 2008)
The pandemic of HIV and AIDS has spread to all regions of the globe
and infected over forty million people worldwide that are currently living with
this fatal disease (UNAIDS, 2002). In Enugu state where the researcher carried
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out the research, the prevalence of HIV and AIDS was put at 5.8% in 2008
(NACA, 2008). This high rate could be connected with high poverty level
which leads to high rural-urban migration among the youths. The youths move
from the villages to the major cities such as Enugu, Ninth Mile and Nsukka in
search of white collar jobs. Most of these migrating youths end up doing menial
jobs such as sales girls and street hawking, leaving them with meager
salary/wages that cannot take care of their basic needs. They end up in
cohabitation with opposite sex and prostitution, a behaviour known to be risky
and to encourage transmission of the virus.
Tragically, the people infected with HIV and AIDS are not the only ones
whose lives are forever altered by this debilitating virus; family members,
neighbours and friends of HIV and AIDS victims are also strongly connected to
the individuals struggling to manage the virus on a day to day basis. Although,
those infected are fighting this disease through taking the prescribe drugs and
doing everything they can to overcome the illness, there are still powerful issues
like social stigma and economic devastation as a result of treatment that makes
the psychological, emotional and social implications of living with HIV and
AIDS almost as difficult as the medical battle. Due to these issues and life
threatening nature of the disease, certain negative and behavioural changes are
associated with people living with HIV and AIDS and if not checked through
appropriate intervention programs could pose a greater risk to the life of the
patient as