The Psychological Well Being Of Children Orphaned By Hiv\aids In Botswana From The Point View Of Caregivers And Investigation Of Protective Factors Of Resilience

The research communicates that Orphans, particularly in developing countries, with special reference to Botswana have a significant scores of Internalizing behavior problems. The current study was intended to explore the psychological well being of children orphaned by HIV\AIDS in Botswana and the possible protective factors. The children under investigation were 724 in totality (359 boys and 365 girls). The Psychological well being of Children was measured by a compiled Questionnaire of Child Behavior Checklist while the resilience was measured by California Healthy Kids survey. The mid-term examinations scores from four subjects including Setswana, English, Science, and Mathematics were collected and scores from the four subjects were averaged to create a composite index of Academic performance of the Child. The results show that orphans with HIV/AIDS have higher rates of loneliness and Withdrawal while externalizing behavior problems such as aggression, opposition and property damage was not evident. Although all the orphans experienced more academic difficulties compared to the normal children, the HIV\AIDS orphans experienced more academic challenges than the orphans in the other groups. The Internal protective (Inner strength) factors of resilience were discovered to be effective as a mediating factor between loneliness, Withdrawal and Academic achievements. The findings are in agreement with the existing literature. Because the children with HIV\AIDS show more psychological problems and academic difficulties, there should be more attention for the psychological well being in the care of children with HIV\AIDS.