The mediating effect of psychological resilience between social support and anxiety/depression in people living with HIV/AIDS–a study from China

Objective To understand the relationship between psychological resilience in social support and anxiety/depression in people living with HIV/AIDS and to verify whether there is a mediating effect. Methods The questionnaire was administered to 161 people living with HIV/AIDS in a hospital. The questionnaire contained a general questionnaire, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Psychological Resilience Inventory (CD-RICS), and the Social Collaborative Support Scale (PSSS), and Pearson correlation analyses were used to explore the correlation between the factors and anxiety/depression, stratified linear regression analyses were used to validate the mediation model, and the bootstrap method was used to test for mediating effects. Results Anxiety was negatively correlated with psychological resilience and social support (r=-0.232, P < 0.01; r=-0.293, P < 0.01); depression was negatively correlated with psychological resilience and social support (r=-0.382, P < 0.01; r=-0.482, P < 0.01); there was a mediation effect model of social support between psychological resilience and anxiety/depression; psychological resilience played a fully mediating role in social support and anxiety/depression, with an effect contribution of 68.42%/59.34% and a 95% CI(-0.256~-0.036)/(-0.341 to~-0.106). Conclusion Psychological resilience plays a complete mediating effect between social support and anxiety/depression. It is recommended that more channels of social support be provided to patients with HIV/AIDS, thereby enhancing their psychological resilience and reducing anxiety/depression levels.