Quality of life and related factors among people living with HIV in China

Abstract

xiaoyan x & sato mk (2011) Journal of Nursing and Healthcare of Chronic Illness 3, 513–520 Quality of life and related factors among people living with HIV in China Aim. Aim of the study is to assess quality of life and its influencing factors among people living with HIV. Background. The Ministry of Health of People’s Republic of China (Joint united nations programme on HIV/AIDS world health organization, 2006) reported that 650 000 people were estimated to be living with HIV in China and among them 75 000 people were living with AIDS, and five provinces, Henan, Hubei, Anhui, Hebei, and Shanxi accounted for 80·4% of infected individuals within this population. Maximising quality of life in people living with HIV/AIDS has become an important objective of care, and understanding the factors that impact quality of life would help achieve this objective. Methods. A cross-sectional study based on a convenient sample was used. The sample consisted of 94 HIV-positive people in Hubei province, age range 21–67 years (M = 42·68, SD = 8·88). Quality of life was measured using the WHOQOL HIV-BREF which was developed by WHO group. Date were collected between December 2008–June 2009. Results. People living with HIV had best quality of life in level of dependence domain (13·44) and poorest quality of life in social relationships domain (11·75). They were most satisfactory with family social support (22·37), followed by perceived social support from significant others (18·69) and least satisfactory with social support from friends (12·19). Quality of life was statistically related to gender, CD4 counts and perceived social support. Women had lower quality of life scores in the psychological (p = 0·028) and spiritual (p = 0·009) domain than men. Patients with CD4 counts <200 cells/mm3 had poorer quality of life in physical (p = 0·023) and level of independence domain (p = 0·039) compared to those with CD4 counts >500 cells/mm3. Perceived social support from family (r = 0·28, p < 0·01), from friends (r = 0·36, p < 0·001) and from significant others (r = 0·28, p < 0·01) was positively associated with quality of life. Implications for clinical practice. Perceived social support was significantly related to quality of life in our study, and this suggests that strengthening social support of HIV-positive people is necessary. As their major support was from family members, a family-focused intervention may be useful, for example, to educate family members to improve their HIV-related knowledge and informational support. Conclusion. This study suggests that the health workers should pay more attention to women living with HIV. Strengthening social support of HIV-positive people is also necessary.