Psycho-social impact and quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS in South

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Psycho-social impact and quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS in South

India

Authors: Subramanian, Thilakavathi1; Gupte, M. D.1; Dorairaj, V. S.2; Periannan,

V.1; Mathai, A. K.1

Source: AIDS Care, Volume 21, Number 4, April 2009 , pp. 473-481(9)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the & Francis Group

Abstract:

This study examines psycho-social impact of HIV and quality of life of 646

HIV-infected persons from a major government sexually transmitted disease (STD)

clinic in South India.

In this cross-sectional study, data was collected using interview schedule and

scales. Nearly 70% had problems in parenting their children after acquiring the

infection. Most (88%) of the respondents reported of seeking help from their

family members, relatives or close friends at the time of their illness. Among

the four categories of stigma, most of them (96%) reported perceived stigma

whereas actual stigma was mentioned by only 33%.

All four categories of stigma were experienced on a higher proportion by females

than males (p<0.05). Each type of stigma was significantly associated with each

domain of quality of life of the respondents (p<0.005). Respondents who reported

of actual stigma (33%) had significantly good quality of life in their physical

domain (49%), psychological domain (48%) and environmental domain (44%).

Multivariate analysis showed that gender and marital status had significant

association with quality of life. The findings of the study underscore the need

for enabling environment through " human force " to uplift their social status and

to have a better quality of life.

Affiliations: 1: National Institute of Epidemiology, ICMR, Chennai, India 2:

Institute of Venereology, Government General Hospital, Chennai, India