Intellectual Functioning of HIV/AIDS Orphans

By : Aayush Kumar, Shikha Verma, Suneel Kumar, Swaran Lata

Page No: 21-34

Abstract
HIV/AIDS orphans may experience challenges or delays in their cognitive development as a result of a variety of factors, such as prenatal exposure to the virus, malnutrition, or unfavourable psychosocial circumstances. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether HIV/AIDS orphans and non-HIV/AIDS orphans can function intellectually, as well as to evaluate the differences between both groups. For orphan boys and orphan girls who are HIV/AIDS-affected, there are significant gender disparities. The institute gave its consent for the collection of data from 126 children between the ages of 6 and 15 years old, comprising 62 HIV/AIDS orphans and 64 non-HIV/AIDS orphans. The Malin’s Intelligence Scale for Indian Children (MISIC) is an adaptation of Wechsler’s intelligence scale developed in India. The findings demonstrated that there was a significant difference in the intellectual functioning of HIV/AIDS orphans compared to non-HIV/AIDS orphans. On the other hand, researchers found that there were no appreciable differences between HIV/AIDS orphan girls and HIV/AIDS orphan boys in terms of intellectual functioning. Only in terms of verbal IQ quotients did researchers discover significant gender differences between HIV/AIDS orphan girls and HIV/AIDS orphan boys from the same population. The cognitive impairments that HIV/AIDS orphans in India experience make them a significant public health problem. These difficulties make it difficult for them to pursue higher education and prevent them from developing healthy social, mental, and physical skills.

Authors:
Aayush Kumar, Research Scholar, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, U.P., India.
Shikha Verma, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, A.N.D.N.N.M. Mahavidayalaya, affiliated with CSJM University, Kanpur.
Suneel Kumar, Senior Researcher, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, U.P., India.
Swaran Lata, Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, UP., India.
 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32381/JPR.2025.20.01.3