Marital adjustment in rural women identified with HIV/AIDS and undergoing anti retro viral drug therapy Sudarshan¶,£, Venkatesan S£ ¶Department of Studies in Psychology, University of Mysore, Mysore, India. £All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore, India. Address for correspondence: E-mail:£psycon_india@yahoo.co.in.
Abstract Since ‘Human Immunodeficiency Virus’ (HIV) was first reported, ‘Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has now become a major public health issue all over the country. The typical rural Indian woman is often a hapless victim of this deadly disease infected by her philandering spouse. There is growing evidence that the pandemic is spreading into the country's rural areas, wherein marital relationships and gender equations are generally on a different platform as compared to those in towns and large cities. It is one thing to know about the disease and quite another thing to be guaranteed a protected sex life. Against this background, this study chose to investigate into nature or characteristics of reported marital adjustment in rural women identified with HIV/AIDS and undergoing anti retro viral drug therapy. This study uses a cross sectional small group survey design to elicit details on marital adjustment in the target population. Data collection involved the use of two tools: (a) Demographic Profile Sheet; and, (b) Ten Item Marital Adjustment Inventory (Singh, 1987). On the whole, results show that the rural Indian women respondents identified or diagnosed as affected by HIV/AIDS have qualitatively an attitude on marital adjustment which falls in the interpretable range of ‘More than Least Favorable’. Significant differences are seen in their scores on marital adjustment in relation to their age, non-nuclear type of family backgrounds, higher SES, and type of occupation. However, associated variables like route of infection, ongoing stage of their affliction and their educational status do not emerge as significant in their report on marital adjustment. These findings are presented and discussed along with their implications for the ongoing social-cultural movement advocacy and empowerment of affected rural women in raising their voice against HIV/AIDS in the country. Top Keywords HIV/AIDS, Rural Women, Marital Adjustment, ARVT. Top |