Quality of Life and its Associated Factors among People Living with HIV/AIDS in Southeast of Iran (2018-2019)

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the quality of life (QoL) and its associated factors among people living with HIV referring to two referral centers for HIV infected people in the southeast of Iran.Methods: Using a convenience sampling, 104 HIV-infected people were recruited. Data were collected using the HIV/AIDS-Targeted Quality of Life (HAT-QoL) instrument with 42 items divided into 9 fields: overall activity, sexual activity, disclosure worries, health worries, financial worries, HIV mastery, life satisfaction, and medication concerns and provider trust. The higher score indicated the higher QoL. Bivariable and multivariable linear regressions were performed to analysis the data.Results: The average QoL score was 52.5 (standard deviation [SD] 13.9) (range 0 to 100). In the multivariable regression model, those who experienced higher external stigma score (B= -1.9; 95% CI-2.6; -1.1) and higher internal stigma score (B=-1.1; 95%CI=-1.5; -0.6) and those who were emplyed (B=-5.9; 95% CI=-9.7; -2.1) reported lesser QoL. However, divorced or widowed people versus single people (B=6.9; 95% CI=0.7; 13.1) reported a higher QoL.Conclusions: Studying the QoL among HIV infected patients and its correlated factors and trying to improve that could reduce the problems of HIV infected patients. This study showed, QoL among this population is a multidimensional and several factors (internal and external stigma, job and marital status) could affect it.