Abstract
This study considers social network interactions as a potential source of support for individuals living with HIV/AIDS in Iran. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 224 people with HIV/AIDS who refer to behavioral counseling centers. Participants were randomly selected among all people with HIV/AIDS from these centers. Relatives were more reported as sources of support than nonrelatives. They were closer to participants, but there was difference between the closest type among relative and nonrelative supporters (P = 0.01). Mean of functional support with considering the attainable range 0–384 was low (126.74 (SD = 76.97)). Social support of participants has been found to be associated with CD4 cell count (P = 0.000), sex (P = 0.049), and network size (P = 0.000) after adjusted for other variables in the final model. Totally, in this study, many of participants had the static social support network that contained large proportions of family and relatives. The findings contribute to the evidence for promotion of knowledge about social support network and social support of people living with HIV/AIDS.
Highlights
AIDS is a disease that affects physical health and mental and social conditions of patients because of the negative attitude of society, discrimination, and stigmatization [1,2,3] especially in the developing countries [4]
This study has used personal network analysis to explore the characteristics of social support networks (SSN) of People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA)
Our finding suggests that the mean of support network size for PLWHA was more than that reported in other studies [8, 27], but it was smaller than the mean of network members reported in a study of non-PLWHA in Iran [26]
Summary
AIDS is a disease that affects physical health and mental and social conditions of patients because of the negative attitude of society, discrimination, and stigmatization [1,2,3] especially in the developing countries [4]. People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) may experience social drift [5], changing pattern of sexual behaviors and self-image. They may lose employment, financial resources, and even family and friends as major sources of support [1, 3, 6]. Researchers have been provided evidence that social support as an aspect of psychological adjustment [14] can improve physical and psychological health outcomes, increasing motivation for treatment [15], self-care behaviors [13], and prevention of transmission of infection during HIV/AIDS disease [16,17,18]. Many PLWHA may facilitate living with HIV/AIDS by their social support networks (SSN)
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