Abstract

The HIV AIDS epidemic has fostered several responses in society which include prejudice fear and even in some occasions hysteria AIDS-related stigma poses threats to the psychological well-being of people living with it Therefore the current study sought to investigate the effects of age and gender on Psychological wellbeing among people living with HIV and AIDS PLHA at Fitche Tesfa Berhan Charity Association Cross-sectional research design with quantitative method was employed on 162 sample were selected based on stratified probability sampling technique The stratification was based on age Accordingly participants were stratified in to four age groups adolescent 12-20 young adults 21-39 middle adults 40-59 and old adults 60 and above Ryff s Psychological well Being Scale RPWB- 18items with demographic data questionnaire was used As a method of data analyses descriptive statistics such as frequency percentage mean and standard deviation and independent sample t-test of inferential statistics was used Hence the result of this study indicated that the mean score of overall psychological well-being of male respondents M 78 45 SD 12 110 was found to be higher than those of female respondents M 73 28 SD 12 505 Further independent sample t-test revealed the statistically significant difference on overall psychological well-being across gender t 160 2 569 P 011 Regarding age even though there was a mean difference across different age groups it is not statistically significant t 152 - 256 P 798 In conclusion health workers counselors and other professionals who work with PLWHA may consider further interventions to promote psychological wellbeing in HIV AIDS-positive individuals