Quality of life of people living with hiv/aids: An integrative literature review

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the main factors that contribute to the QoL of patients living with HIV. It was a bibliographic research of the integrative literature review type. This procedure was chosen because it allows the synthesis and analysis of scientific knowledge already produced on the subject. 282 studies were identified in the databases. After eliminating 72 duplicate articles, 210 articles were selected. Of these, 88 were excluded after analyzing the titles and abstracts. Of the 122 eligible articles, they were excluded for the following reasons: 55 were not available in full; 55 did not meet the time frame. In the end, 12 studies were included in the integrative review. Of the 12 studies analyzed, in terms of general characteristics, the oldest publication was from 2017; all twelve articles were national, but studies were prevalent in the southeast region, which represented six (50%), in second place came the northeast region with five (41.6%). Regarding the type of approach, two (16.6%) were qualitative and ten (83.4%) used a quantitative approach. It was identified that the Quality of Life of people affected by HIV/AIDS is directly associated with the domain in which it is analyzed, that is, several factors can positively or negatively influence this evaluation. It was also noticed that the main factors that contribute to the poor quality of life were: stigma, prejudice, difficulty in adhering to treatment, spirituality, psychological suffering, religious orientation, employment status, precarious living conditions, and coinfection as another pathology, especially with Tuberculosis.