The Effect of Expressive Writing Therapy Onstress in Children with HIV/AIDS

  • Angesti Dyah Triyani Universitas Kusuma Husada Surakarta
  • Febriana Sartika Sari Universitas Kusuma Husada Surakarta
  • Prima Trisna Aji Universitas Kusuma Husada Surakarta
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32583/keperawatan.v12i4.954
Keywords: children with HIV/AIDS, expressive writing therapy, stress

Abstract

AIDS disease attacks regardless of age. It can be assumed that all ages can experience AIDS, including infants and children. One of the obstacles in controlling HIV/AIDS in children is stigma and discrimination on children with HIV / AIDS. The stigma triggers psychological problems in children with HIV / AIDS, including stress problems in children with HIV / AIDS. One of the therapies to handle stress in children with HIV/AIDS is Expressive Writing. It is a brief writing technique that assists a person to comprehend and manage the emotional turmoil in their life . The present study aimed to identify the effect of Expressive Writing Therapy on stress in children with HIV/AIDS.This study used a Quasi Experiment with a one-group pretest-posttest design. Purposive sampling was applied to determine its samples, which consisted of 25 respondents. A Children's Stress Questionnaire was applied for data collection instruments with a reliability value 0,86.  Expressive Writing therapy was performed for  5 sessions with 50-60 minutes per meeting. The stress value before conducting Expressive Writing therapy showed an average of 2.6240 to 2.4888 in the post-implementation of expressive writing therapy. The data analysis test utilized the Wilcoxon test. The pre-test and post-test analysis revealed p = 0.000 (p <0.05). Therefore, there was an effect of expressive writing therapy on stress in children with HIV / aids. It can be concluded that there is an effect of expressive writing therapy on the stress in children with HIV / AIDS at Rumah Singgah Lentera Surakarta.