• Dorothy Ebere Adimora, Francisca Ngozi Ogba, Monica Obiageli Omeje, Fidelis Eze Amaeze, and Friday Mamudu Adene.
• Department of Educational Foundations, Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
• Afr Health Sci. 2021 Sep 1; 21 (3): 1016-1026.

BackgroundDepression is a highly prevalent mental disorder among PLHIV, whilst social support is important in disease prevention, health promotion, therapeutic measure especially for PLHIV.ObjectivesTo ascertain the different types and sources of social support and their association with depression among PLHIV in Nigeria.Materials And MethodsThe study was a correlation with 2515 PLHIV in three teaching hospitals in South-Eastern Nigeria. Data were collected between January to June, 2019 through interviews, using socio-demographic and Clinical Form and a Social Support Scale for PLHIV. SPSS-20 used for data analysis.ResultsIt was shown that average scores of instrumental and emotional social supports (IESS) were satisfactory and not influenced by sex (p = 0.894; p = 0.496), education (p = 0.805; p = 0.182), marital status (p = 0.076; p = 0.446) and length of antiretroviral therapy (p = 0.510; p = 0.136). People diagnosed for less than three years had more instrumental support (p = 0.05) than those diagnosed over three years. The regression score also revealed a high predictive power of IESS on depression of PLHIV.ConclusionPLHIV have satisfactory social support, especially from family not residing in the same household and emotional social support from friends. Analyses identified knowledge gaps in the community regarding the social support received by PLHIV and their depression symptoms.© 2021 Adimora DE et al.

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