HIV Status Disclosure and Quality of Life among Persons Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) Accessing Care at the Volta Regional Hospital.
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Date
2018-12
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Volume Title
Publisher
University Of Ghana
Abstract
Background: Cases of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is on the rise. However, the availability of antiretroviral drugs has to a larger extent increased the survival of these patients in recent times. The increased survival often presents challenges to the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) mainly due to adverse drug effects and or the prevailing socio-economic and cultural challenges associated with the disease condition.
Objective: To ascertain the effects of HIV status disclosure on the quality of life of PLHWA receiving care at the Volta Regional Hospital.
Methods: A cross-sectional facility-based study involving People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) assessing antiretroviral treatment at the Volta Regional Hospital. Quality of life (QoL) of respondents were assessed using the WHOQOL HIV BREF instrument. Data collated from the field was coded and entered manually into the Statistical Package for Social Scientist (SPSS) Version 22. Cleaning of data was carried out by running frequencies for all the variables observed. Data were then imported from SPSS into STATA version – 15 for analysis. Descriptive statistics were determined for measured outcomes reporting frequencies and proportions for categorical outcomes; means and standard deviations for continuous outcomes. Chi-Square test was used to establish the relationship between HIV status disclosure and socio-demographic factors. Welch’s t-test was used to compare mean scores of various domains of QoL. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine the adjusted and joint effect of HIV disclosure status on quality of life domains. Result: The study involved 311 PLWHA with 25.1% being males. Apart from the level of education (p=0.047) and years after diagnosis (p<0.001), all other demographic characteristics were not significantly associated with HIV serostatus disclosure.
Also, the study found that more than two-thirds of the respondents (68%) perceived that their quality of life was poor. PLWHAs who disclosed their HIV serostatus had a higher quality of life scores in all the six domains compared to those who had not disclosed their status. However, there was no significant association between status disclosure and the individual domains and all domains jointly (F = 0.73, p-value >0.05) after controlling for disclosure status and socio-demographic factors.
Conclusion: The study found that the majority of the participants had disclosed their HIV serostatus; with the least disclosure occurring among participants with less than one-year post-diagnosis. Receipt of support after disclosure was associated with better QOL scores on the environmental and social domains. Nevertheless, this study did not find an association between disclosure status and quality of life.
Key Words: HIV/AIDS, Quality of Life, Sero Status Disclosure
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MPH.
Keywords
HIV/AIDS, Volta Regional Hospital