Author: Angela Marie Araneta

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13:

The risk for contracting HIV/AIDS among women living sub-Saharan Africa continues to remain high. Research has identified a link between perception of HIV risk and health-behavior change. Many studies also demonstrate a discrepancy between an individual's perceived risk and actual risk for contracting HIV/AIDS. The purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between HIV risk perception and psychosocial factors including: depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and self-esteem among Malawian women. Participants included 60 Malawian women who were queried about perception of risk of HIV infection, depression and anxiety symptoms, and self-esteem as part of the Malawi Health Behavior Survey. The mean age of women in the study was 30.1 (SD=7.9). The majority of the women in the study had completed Primary (Elementary) education (58%) and reported being in a civil or common law monogamous marriage (76.5%). Contrary to the predicted outcome, symptoms of depression and anxiety were positively correlated with HIV/AIDS risk perception (r=.23 and r=.25). Consistent with the expected outcome, self-esteem was negatively correlated with HIV risk perception (r=-.26). Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to examine the relative contribution of each variable (depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, self-esteem) to predict HIV-risk perception. The model was not found to be statistically significant.