The role of family and friend social support in reducing emotional distress among HIV-positive women

The purpose of this study was to examine HIV-positive women regarding their perceptions of family and friend social support and mental health outcomes . Regression models were constructed for five mental health outcomes. Resul ts indicated that while each outcome has slightly different significant pre dictors, perceived family support was predictive of the reduced loneliness over the past few days and past year, stress, and presence of depressive sy mptoms. Implications for researchers and therapists are discussed.