Current social support and social adaptation of HIV/AIDS patients in Henan province

Abstract

Objective: To understand the status quo of social support for and social adaptation of HIV/AIDS patients in Henan province, analyze the relationship between social support and social adaptation, and provide reference for improving the quality of life of HIV/AIDS patients. Methods: A multi-stage stratified random sampling method was adopted to select HIV/AIDS patients in high HIV prevalence areas (Shangcai, Shenqiu), middle epidemic areas (Queshan, Yongcheng), low prevalence areas (Jiyuan, Sanmenxia) in Henan province. A social support scale was used to investigate the three dimensions of objective support, subjective support and support utilization. A social adaptation scale was used to investigate the three dimensions of patient cognitive willingness, social interaction and role adaptation. Finally, the characteristics of the social support, social adaptation and their relationships were analyzed. Results: The overall score of 506 HIV/AIDS patients' social support was 36.30±9.34, the score of objective support was 7.48±3.01, the score of subjective support was 22.35±5.79, and the score of support utilization was 6.28±2.38, the overall score and the scores of three dimensions of social support of HIV/AIDS patients were lower than the national levels, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). The overall score of patients' social adaptation was39.10±7.10, the score of cognitive willingness was 9.96±3.23, the score of social interaction was 18.57±3.25, and the score of role adaptation was 10.57±2.52. The average score of social adaptation of patients was less than 2/3 of the overall score, and the average cognitive willingness score was less than 1/2 of the overall score. The differences in social support score and social adaptation score among patients with different gender, age, marital status, occupation, transmission route, number of symptoms were statistically significant (P<0.05). For the HIV/AIDS patients, there was a correlation between the social support and the social adaptation (r=0.14, P<0.05). Conclusion: HIV/AIDS patients had a low level of social support and social adaptation, and social support might be a contributing factor to the social adaptation of HIV/AIDS patients.