HIV/acquired immune deficiency syndrome stigma, perceived social support, and medical adherence among HIV/acquired immune deficiency syndrome children: A mediation analysis

Introduction: The present study brings forward the relationship among HIV/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) stigma, perceived social support (PSS), and medical adherence found among HIV/AIDS children. Methodology: A sample of 90 HIV/AIDS-affected children aged 10–18 years from motilal nehru hospital, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, was selected for the study. Participants were assessed HIV/AIDS stigma, pss, and medical adherence. The tools of descriptive statistics, correlational and regression analysis, and mediation analysis were performed to accomplish the desired objective of the study. Results: Correlational analysis makes it evident that HIV/AIDS stigma is prominently negatively correlated to PSS (r (88) = −0.670, P < 0.01) and medical adherence (r (88) = −0.770, P < 0.01). Taking into consideration hierarchical regression analysis, it was found that the PSS significantly contributed to 33.2% variance in HIV/AIDS stigma and hiv/aids stigma contributed to 55.7% variance in the process of medical adherence. The achieved results of the mediation analyses validate the mediating role of HIV/AIDS stigma in the association between pss and medical adherence (β = 0.20, Confidence interval = 0.003 to 0.057, P = 0.031). Conclusion: These findings contribute to empirical evidence about psychological predictors and the observable consequences of hiv/aids-related stigma.