Abstract
Background: There is evidence that Quality of Life (QoL) of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) has a significant role in ART retention, treatment adherence, and survival. As a result, QoL is becoming increasingly important for policy- makers, program implementers, and researchers. However, factors associated with QoL, in a culturally diverse country like Cameroon are unknown.
 Objective: We aimed to assess the QoL of PLHIV on ART and assess the extent to which physical, psychosocial, environ- mental, and spiritual factors drive QoL.
 Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 394 PLHIV aged >21 in North-West Cameroon from April to July 2019. Data were collected using WHO-QOL BREF questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, bivariate, and multivariate linear regression analyses were performed.
 Results: Majority (34.5%) of participants were in the age range of 41-50, with 73% females. The average QoL of the re- spondents was “good” with mean score of 3.57 on 5 and 71.4% agreed to have satisfactory QoL. Bivariate regression anal- yses revealed that all six proposed predictors were significantly associated with QoL. Psychological factors made the greatest impact (β = 0.213; p<0.003), followed by physical factors (β = 0.19; p<0.001).
 Conclusion: PLHIV fairly agreed to have good QoL. The QoL was driven by mainly psychological and physical factors and not level of independence. However, the mean score perceptions for the investigated domains were low. Mental health ser- vices should consider these predictors when designing strategies to improve the QoL of PLHIV. While this study provides useful insights, other possible drivers of QoL among PLHIV should be investigated.
 Keywords: Quality of life and associated factors; HIV patients; antiretroviral therapy; Cameroon.
Highlights
MethodsAn institution-based cross-sectional study conducted among People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) on Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) from two high volume sites in the North West Region of Cameroon namely; Nkwen Baptist Health Centre and Mbingo Baptist Hospital which are both Faith-based institutions
There is evidence that Quality of Life (QoL) of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) has a significant role in Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) retention, treatment adherence, and survival
Mental health services should consider these predictors when designing strategies to improve the QoL of PLHIV
Summary
An institution-based cross-sectional study conducted among PLHIV on ART from two high volume sites in the North West Region of Cameroon namely; Nkwen Baptist Health Centre and Mbingo Baptist Hospital which are both Faith-based institutions. Participants of the study were enrolled and interviewed during their routine ART pick-up appointments at the health facility. The treatment units had 3629 and 1457 active clients on ARV respectively as of December 31st 2018. In these centers, ARVs are dispensed monthly or three months based on the availability of the drugs, client’s distance from the point of collection, client’s duration, and adherence to treatment and client’s clinical state. Adherence counselling is done by social workers, Psychosocial agents (APS) and nurses
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