A Cross Sectional Study On Quality Of Life And Coping Skills Of People Living With HIV And AIDS In Meerut, UP

Abstract

Background: HIV is one of the worst pandemic in today’s world that has a devastating physical and psychological effect. Due to early detection and availability of antiretroviral treatment, HIV has become a chronic disease rather than a fatal illness. Consequently, quality of life is a paramount component in the evaluation of patient’s salubrity following HIV infection. The role of quality of life and coping strategy with the Human immunodeficiency virus /AIDS disease cannot be overemphasized. There are very few studies in India which explored the quality of life of patients with HIV and AIDS and Coping skills. Materials and Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted at antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic of LLRM Medical College, Meerut. The sample comprised 200 people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) who were 18 years and above. The tools used were BREF COPE and WHO QOL-HIV BREF. Data was entered in Microsoft Excel and analyzed in SPSS version 24. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square test were used. Results : The lowest quality of life is seen in social relations, followed Environment.The most commonly used coping styles were active coping, self distraction and religion. Conclusion: The results denote that illness perception has direct and indirect effects in QOL, mediated by coping strategies. The more HIV is perceived as threatening, the worse is the perception of QOL of PLWHA; however, the incremented utilization of active coping, self distraction and coping strategies and spirituality and personal belief and less utilization of substance use and denial could mitigate this negative effect. [shivam K Natl J Integr Res Med, 2019; 10(2):1-5]