Mediating effects of social support on depression and quality of life among patients with HIV infection in Taiwan

Abstract

Few empirical studies have evaluated the mediating effects of quality of life (QoL) among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The purposes of this study were to identify the predictors of QoL and to test the mediating effects of social support on depression and QoL among patients enrolled in an HIV case-management program in Taiwan. A cross-sectional, descriptive correlation design collected data from 108 HIV-infected individuals. Individuals were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory II, the short version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment (WHOQOL-BREF), and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support between September 2007 and April 2010. After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics (including age, gender, and mode of transmission) and clinical information (including CD4 count and time since diagnosis with HIV), the study findings showed that QoL was significantly and positively correlated with both social support and the initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), and was negatively correlated with depression and time since diagnosis with HIV. The strongest predictors for QoL were depression followed by the initiation of HAART and social support, with an R(2) of 0.40. Social support partially mediated the relationship between depression and QoL. Health professionals should enhance HIV-infected individuals' social support to alleviate the level of depression and further increase the QoL among PLWHA.

Evaluation of impact of social support and care on HIV‐positive and AIDS individuals’ quality of life: a nonrandomised community trial

“…The finding was consistent with the study of Li Song and others, as the study findings showed that QOL was significantly and positively correlated with both social support and the initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), which can improve their QOL (Hou et al . , Li et al . ).…”

Os determinantes da qualidade de vida em pessoas com HIV: uma revisão integrativa

“…Em todos os casos, o desenho utilizado foi de natureza quantitativa e descritiva, com exceção de um deles, que propôs uma metodologia qualitativa-quantitativa 28 . Existe uma alta frequência de estudos transversais, um total de 18 artigos que representam 81,8% de todos os documentos estudados 8,9,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]29 .…”

“…Este é o caso do determinante da qualidade de vida assistência social, que com uma aparição em 8 artigos (36,3%) é o resultado que mais vezes foi identificado 8,9,[11][12][13][14][15]23 . Com 7 artigos (31,8%) segue-se depressão 8,9,12,13,17,18,19 e estigma 8,9,12,[14][15][16]26 . A adesão é outro determinate da qualidade de vida das pessoas vivendo com HIV que foi identificado em um total de 5 artigos (22,7%) [19][20][21][22]26 .…”

“…Melhorar o apoio social deve ser um objetivo importante em intervenções destinadas a reduzir o efeito do estigma na saúde e na qualidade de vida. Hou, W. et al 2014 13 .…”

“…A ampla variabilidade das variáveis identificadas na revisão e a baixa coincidência entre os determinantes observados pelas diferentes revisões existentes indicam que ainda não está claro quais são os determinantes que intervêm neste conceito. No entanto, pode-se ver algum consenso quanto a variáveis tais como depressão 8,9,12,13,17,18,33 , suporte social 8,9,[11][12][13][14][15]23 , estigma 8,9,[12][13][14]20,33 e a adesão [19][20][21][22]26 .…”