Correlates of relationship, psychological, and sexual behavioral factors for HIV risk among Indian women.

Abstract

The rate of HIV/AIDS among women in India is expected to rise yet few studies have examined factors related to HIV risk among Indian women. The objective of this prospective, cross-sectional study was to characterize similarities and differences in the relationships, psychological well-being, and sexual behaviors among Indian women (N=459). Both HIV positive (N=216) and negative (N=243) women from urban and rural areas in India were included in this study. Chi-square, analysis of variance, and logistic regression analyses revealed that in both geographic groups, HIV-positive women were significantly more likely to report marital dissatisfaction, a history of forced sex, domestic violence, depressive symptoms and husband's extra marital sex when compared to the HIV-negative women. Findings also indicate that specific factors related to the quality of the marital relationship such as domestic violence, martial dysfunction, and depressive symptoms may be related to HIV-related risks for women. Implications for future research and culturally relevant interventions are discussed.

Quality of Life Correlates in HIV-Positive People in a City in South India

“…The results indicated higher stress and depression levels in female respondents. These findings are consistent with other Indian studies that indicate more psychological distress, particularly depression, in HIV-positive Indian women than in men (e.g., Chandra et al, 1998;Gupta, Wyatt, Swaminathan, & Rewari, 2008;Majumdar, 2004;Solomon et al, 2008). This is perhaps to be expected because once infected with HIV, women in India can face severe abuse, discrimination, and stigmatization within the home and in society (Pallikadavath, Garda, Apte, Freedman, & Stones, 2005).…”

Domestic violence against women in India: A systematic review of a decade of quantitative studies

“…These includes tobacco use (Ackerson, Kawachi, Barbeau, & Subramanian, 2007), lack of contraceptive and condom use (Stephenson, Koenig, Acharya, & Roy, 2008), diminished utilisation of health care (Sudha & Morrison, 2011; Sudha, Morrison, & Zhu, 2007), higher frequencies of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and attempted suicide (Chandra, Satyanarayana, & Carey, 2009; Chowdhury, Brahma, Banerjee, & Biswas, 2009; Maselko & Patel, 2008; Shahmanesh, Wayal, Cowan, et al, 2009; Shidhaye & Patel, 2010; Verma et al, 2006), sexually transmitted infections (STI) (Chowdhary & Patel, 2008; Sudha & Morrison, 2011; Weiss et al, 2008), HIV(Gupta et al, 2008; Silverman, Decker, Saggurti, Balaiah, & Raj, 2008), asthma (Subramanian, Ackerson, Subramanyam, & Wright, 2007), anaemia (Ackerson & Subramanian, 2008), and chronic fatigue (Patel et al, 2005). Furthermore, maternal intimate partner violence (IPV) experiences have been associated with more terminated, unintended pregnancies (Begum, Dwivedi, Pandey, & Mittal, 2010; Yoshikawa et al, 2012), less breastfeeding (Shroff et al, 2011), perinatal care (Koski, Stephenson, & Koenig, 2011), and poor child outcomes (Ackerson & Subramanian, 2009).…”

Mental health consequences of non-communicable and communicable health conditions in adolescents

“…Like the other investigations, the burden of stigma, social ostracism, reduced economic circumstances and grief contributed to psychological distress. Gupta et al (2008) examined the differences in relationships, psychological wellbeing and sexual behaviours between HIV-positive and HIV-negative women. While the study was not adolescent-specific, some adolescents aged 18 and 19 were included in the sample.…”