Similarly, cross-national studies comparing samples of European American with Chinese, Korean, and Japanese participants found that European Americans seek more social support. In the US, Asian Americans appear to utilize less social support than European Americans. Many researchers have documented cultural differences in social support seeking. Literature on social support from the field of social psychology suggests a possible explanation for what may appear to be a contradiction. The only known quantitative study about the direct relationship between social support and mental health among PLWHA in China, by Sun and colleagues found, paradoxically, that while participants reported moderately high levels of social support (as measured by the Perceived Social Support Scale), they continued to report high psychological distress (measured by the Symptom Checklist SCL-90). However, less is known about the effects of social support in HIV-positive populations in China. In contrast to approximately 1 psychologist for every 1,800 individuals in the United States for reference, this low availability of trained mental health professionals presents a significant challenge in the effort to consider viable options to meet the mental health needs of Chinese individuals affected by HIV.Ī reliably recommended resource for addressing mental health needs of HIV-positive individuals in the West is accessing social support networks, based on studies showing that increased social support is associated with improvement in psychological wellbeing (e.g., overall quality of life and depression ). Indeed, in China, there is approximately one certified psychologist per every 80,000 people, as estimated by the Chinese Society of Psychiatry. This is understandable, given the relative lack of mental health resources. However, the mental health aspects of PLWHA have received less attention and research. The government has made considerable progress in addressing the medical aspect of the epidemic (e.g., the Four Frees and One Care program has made HIV medication free and widely available ). In 2009, an estimated 26,000 people died from AIDS in China, causing it to be the leading cause of death among infectious diseases for the first time in the country’s history. In China, despite the increasing HIV epidemic, mental health needs are seldom the focus of treatment and care. Outside the West, however, there is less research on the psychological aspects of HIV. Specifically in HIV-positive populations in the US, social support is associated with increased self-esteem, decreased depression, and decreased perceived HIV-related stigma. Within the United States, social support, as defined by the perception that one is loved and cared for, esteemed and valued, and part of a network of communication and mutual obligations, has been found to be helpful with coping and adjusting to stress by acting as a buffer against adverse mental and physical health effects of stress. It is important to know which factors are helpful to PLWHA in coping with the distress of having HIV. PLWHA have widely been documented to be at increased risk for mental health problems such as depression, suicidality, and substance abuse. Future research is warranted on the effects of utilizing implicit social support to bolster mental health, which has the potential to circumvent the issues of both high stigma and low professional resources in this population.ĪIDS is a global pandemic, with 33 million people now living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). We hypothesized and found using multiple linear regression, that after controlling for demographics, only implicit, but not explicit social support positively predicted mental health. Explicit social support refers to interactions involving active disclosure and discussion of problems and request for assistance, whereas implicit social support refers to the emotional comfort one obtains from social networks without disclosing problems. This study assessed explicit and implicit forms of social support and mental health symptoms in 120 HIV-positive Chinese. Research is needed to consider the gap between need for mental healthcare and lack of sufficiently trained professionals, in a culturally acceptable manner. China faces a growing HIV epidemic psychosocial needs of HIV-positive individuals remain largely unaddressed.
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