Psychosocial Variables in HIV-Positive Patients

Lee, Chul; Kang, Moon Won; Kim, Jung Jin; Lee, Chang Uk; Lee, Soo Jung; Paik, In Ho

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
With rapid increase of HIV infection worldwide, researchers have been naturally concerned about their psychosocial adjustment and problems to living with AIDS. This study examined coping and psychosocial variables, and their interrelationship to evaluate the psychosocial adjustment and problems of HIV-positive patients. METHOD: A total of 27 HIV-positive patients were interviewed and they completed self administered scales of the ways of coping, HADS, perceived stress, family support, and SF-36. Also, the control subjects included two samples of 27 hematopoietic cell transplantation patients, and 30 healthy persons. The data were analyzed using analysis of variance and scheffe's multiple range test to check for significant differences among the mean scores in three samples.
RESULTS
1) As for the coping styles, there were no significant differences among the three groups. 2) The mean scores of perceived stress in HIV-positive patients were significantly higher than those in normal controls. 3) The mean scores of family support scale were significantly lower in HIV-positive patients than those in normal controls. 4) The mean scores of depression and anxiety on HADS were significantly higher in HIV-positive patients than those in normal controls. 5) There were no significant associations between active or passive coping styles and depressive/anxiety or perceived stress in HIV-positive patients. 6) The mean scores of health status(SF-36) were significantly lower in HIV-positive patients than those in normal controls.
CONCLUSION
Although coping styles had no significant influence on depression/anxiety, HIV-positive patients showed higher scores on depression/anxiety, and perceived stress compared with normal controls. They received lower family support than hematopoietic stem cell transplantation patients and normal controls. HIV-positive patients rated their general health status as worse than normal controls. These findings might point to the need for more attention to some psychosocial variables in HIV-positive patients.