Role of coping styles, self efficacy and adherence to medical regime in quality of life of HIV/AIDS patients

Abstract

The new and potent HIV treatments have created experiences in which after having come to terms with imminent death, persons living with HIV/AIDS have the potential of many more years of life. In the present investigation an attempt has been made to study the role of coping styles, self-efficacy and adherence to medical regime in QOL of HIV/AIDS patients. Effort was also made to find out if coping styles, self- efficacy and adherence to medical regime are significant predictors of quality of life of HIV/AIDS patients. Furthermore, gender differences have also been studied on coping styles, self-efficacy, adherence and quality of life. The sample of the present investigation comprised 225 subjects (male=116 and female=109) in the age range of 20 to 50 years from lower and middle class families. Only those subjects were included who were able to understand, read and write hindi/Punjabi/English. The HIV/AIDS patients were randomly selected from various ICTC and ART centers in Punjab. The patients were selected on the basis of clinical diagnosis report and those who were taking antiretroviral therapy from the ART centers of Punjab under a consultant incharge. Patients having CD4 count cells between 100-500 were interviewed for the present study. Patients willingness to go through psychological investigations was also an important criteria. Confidentiality was assured to the patients and was maintained throughout the investigation. Coping styles were studied by using complete version of COPE ( Carver et al. 1989). Self-efficacy was studied by using HIV self- efficacy (HIV-SE) questionnaire ( Shively et al. 2002). Adherence was assessed in terms of general adherence by using the medical outcome study (MOS) by Hays, (1993). Specific adherence was measured by using pill count method and Quality of life was measured by using MOS- HIV Health Survey (Wu, Rubin et al.1991).