5.Social Anxiety And Psychological Stress Among Women Living With Hiv: A Research Perspective -1Ruchi Mishra, 2Dr. Sushma Sharma

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to find out the level of social anxiety and psychological stress among females who are living with HIV and compare them to non-patients graduate female group. For the purpose of this Ex Post Facto Research , two groups were selected from the Kanpur city. Total sample compromised 40 females. Among them first group was of 20 HIV positive female patients and 20 normal graduate females. The sample were taken through a convenience sampling method and the data collection tools were Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale and Leibowitz Social Anxiety Scale .The results of the Independent sample t- test on social anxiety and stress shows the t- value of 2.07 and 2.69 respectively. T- value of 2.07 on social anxiety scale indicates significant difference at 0.01 levels. On the other hand t-value of 2.69 on stress scale shows significant difference at 0.01 level. The study also indicates the different levels of social anxiety and stress among both the groups. Thus, the study’s findings indicate that social anxiety is a significant problem for women with HIV since they are constantly criticized by others and face rejection and labelling . On the other hand psychological stress which was the second variable of the study indicates its higher level in graduate females group .This result breaks the myth that only the patient group will have more stress; rather it shows that even normal females can have high levels of stress.