Resilience factors associated with adaptation to HIV disease

This study examines the hardiness dimensions of commitment, challenge, and control as resilience factors in adaptation among persons with symptomatic HIV disease and AIDS. Two hundred participants completed self-report questi onnaires measuring hardiness, psychological distress, quality of life, and core personal beliefs. A series of standard multiple regression analyses re vealed that high hardiness was significantly related to 1) lower psychologi cal distress levels; 2) higher perceived quality of life in physical health , mental health, and overall functioning domains; 3) more positive personal beliefs regarding the benevolence of the world and people, self-worth, and randomness of life events; and 4) lowered belief in controllability of lif e events. Commitment was the hardiness factor that most frequently made a u nique contribution to predicting adaptation in the regression models. Impli cations of these findings for understanding HIV-related adaptation and for clinical mental health intervention are considered Future directions in HIV -related adaptation research are suggested.