Posttraumatic Growth Among HIV/AIDS Patients¹

Abstract

Correlates (n= 835 at Time 1) and predictors (n= 434 at Time 2) of posttraumatic growth (PTG; perceiving positive life changes stemming from diagnosis) over 1.6 years were examined among a diverse sample of HIV/AIDS patients. PTG was common–59% of participants reported to have experienced at least moderate positive changes since diagnosis. At Time 1, PTG had significant negative associations with age, alcohol use, depression, and pessimism; and positive associations with African American ethnicity (vs. White), female gender, eating a healthy diet, and optimism. At Time 2, religiosity was positively associated with PTG. The process of experiencing PTG over time was associated with lower levels of depression over time. Although the underlying process of PTG remains unclear, these results suggest that PTG is worthy of intervention focus.

The association of benefit finding to psychosocial and health behavior adaptation among HIV+ men and women

“…Consistent with other recent reports in the literature (Farber et al, 2003;Luszczynska et al, 2007;Milam, 2004Milam, , 2006bSiegel & Schrimshaw, 2000;Weaver et al, 2005), findings from the present study suggest that benefit finding may decrease HIV+ patients' vulnerability to psychological adjustment difficulties. In analyses that controlled for relevant demographic and health status variables, benefit finding was associated with fewer depressive symptoms and greater perceived social support.…”

“…Further, only two of the 17 studies that assessed depression involved HIV+ patients. One of those studies (Milam, 2004) found no association between baseline levels of benefit finding and depression levels over time whereas the other found a negative association of benefit finding and depression in a sample of HIV+ women (Updegraff, Taylor, Kemeny, & Wyatt, 2002). A third more recently published study confirmed a cross-sectional association between perceived growth and depression in a sample of HIV+ men and women (Milam, 2006b).…”

“…Milam (2006b) found a small inverse association of perceived growth to alcohol and drug use, but no association of benefit finding to HIV medication adherence or physical activity. In an earlier study, benefit finding was associated with lower levels of alcohol use and more healthful eating (Milam, 2004), but showed no association to smoking, exercise, or illicit drug use. Research involving HIV+ women (Weaver et al, 2005) and HIV/AIDS clinic patients in India (Luszczynska, Sarkar, & Knoll, 2007) provides support for a positive association between benefit finding and adherence to HAART.…”

Cognitive coping, goal self-efficacy and personal growth in HIV-infected men who have sex with men

“…High levels of growth have been reported by people dealing with many highly distressing and traumatic events, including illness [1][2][3][4]. Personal growth has been documented among individuals living with HIV/AIDS [5,6]. To date, only a few studies have been performed on factors that might facilitate growth in people with HIV.…”

Satisfaction with Life, Big-Five Personality Traits and Posttraumatic Growth Among People Living with HIV

“…HIV-related PTSD symptoms stem mostly from an awareness of a risk of premature death, but they also result from the unpredictable course of HIV progression, side effects of treatment and social stigmatization (Breet et al 2014;Sanjuán et al 2013). Nevertheless, positive changes were also observed among PLWH, comprising the phenomenon of PTG, and these changes may entail important clinical as well as psychological advantages (Milam 2004(Milam , 2006Murphy and Hevey 2013;Rzeszutek et al 2017). Particularly, PTG among PLWH individuals predicted improvement in clinical variables (CD4 count and viral load ;Milam 2006) and was associated with lower perceived social stigmatization (Murphy and Hevey 2013).…”