Publication

Abstract : People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are stigmatized and looked at negatively by people at large. Stigma, discrimination, and prejudice extend its reach to people associated with HIV-positive people. This study examines the relationships among between social stigma and insecurity of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The major aim ofthe study is to find out the way social stigma increases the level of insecurity in people living with HIV. The data were collected from 50 respondents, who are staff and members of working with network offices of CPK+ (Council of people living with HIV in Kerala). Individuals living with HIV/AIDS may be socially discriminated against based on whether they (a) Pose a threat to others’ health, (b) deviate largely from group standards (c) elicit negative emotional reaction from others. Social stigma and insecurity are inter-related. Insecurity is the anxiety one experience when one feels vulnerable and insecure. Thus a person living with HIV is instinctively falling in the feeling of insecuritydue to stigma attached with the disease. It is the deficiency in well being. It also indicates about a feeling of support less life. Social support theory hypothesizes that social support can serve to protect individuals against the negative effects of stressors, such as iscrimination, by leading them to interpret stressful occasions lessnegatively.