Psychological well-being in persons receiving HIV-related mental health services: the role of personal meaning in a stress and coping model☆
Received 27 March 2009; accepted 23 September 2009. published online 21 October 2009.
Abstract
Objective
This investigation examined the association of personal meaning to psychological well-being in adults living with HIV/AIDS receiving mental health services. Personal meaning refers to a framework for delineating the purposes and goals that make life worth living and for evaluating the degree to which these purposes and goals are being fulfilled. Personal meaning was hypothesized to be positively associated with psychological well-being and to contribute independently to the variance in psychological well-being over and above social support, dispositional optimism and coping behavior.
Method
With the use of a cross-sectional design, a set of self-report measures were completed by 132 adults living with HIV disease at the time of their initial mental health services evaluation. Data were analyzed using correlation and regression techniques.
Results
Personal meaning was positively associated with psychological well-being, although it did not contribute significantly to the variance in well-being over and above social support, optimism and coping behavior in a multifactorial regression model. Post hoc analysis showed partial mediation by optimism of the association between personal meaning and well-being.
Conclusions
Personal meaning should be considered along with other psychological and behavioral coping factors in understanding and intervening clinically with individuals living with HIV disease and co-occurring psychiatric concerns.
aEmory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
bPECDOC Research and Evaluation Services, Decatur, GA 30033, USA
Corresponding author. Grady Infectious Disease Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, 341 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. Tel.: +1 404 616 6862.
☆ This work was supported by a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA grant no. 5U79SM057701).
ABSTRACT