Social Support and Depression in Patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Attending a General Hospital in South-South,Nigeria

Background: Depression is one of the commonest psychiatric disorders seen among Human immunodeficiency virus/Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) individuals and these two conditions are significant public health issues. Also, lack of social support increases the risk of depression among them. Aim: To determine the extent and type of social support and correlates of depression among HIV/AIDS patients attending General Hospital in south-south, Nigeria. Setting: The research was conducted in the HIV/AIDS outpatient clinic of the General hospital in south-south, Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was carried out on three hundred and twenty-three patients living with HIV/AIDS from June to October 2016. The instruments used were Socio-demographic questionnaire, Mini international neuropsychiatric interview M.I.N.I (A1-A6 module, English version 6.0), and OSLO-3 items social support scale. Results: Majority (95.7%) of the respondents received social support and more than half (53.6%) of the respondents have strong social support. There was a significant association between social support and depression (X2 =18.38, df =1, p=0.001). The majority (83.3%) of the respondents were females and depression was significantly associated with marital status (X2=7.36, df=2, p=0.03).Also, there was a significant association between monthly income and depression(X2=9.31, df=2, p=0.01). In multivariate regression, absence of social support (B=2.120, p=0.001, OR=8.327) was the most significant predictor for depression Conclusion: This finding implies that depression is one of the mental health issues that affect HIV/AIDS infected individuals in Nigeria and lack of social support increases the risk of depression among them.