The Impact of Social Support on Quality of Life and Emotional Distress of HIV-positive People

Abstract

The HIV infection impacts the quality of life of affected people, who can sometimes present negatives feelings. Some psychosocial aspects can influence it. In this research, we had attempted to see the impact of social support on their quality of life and their emotional distress, with a comparative study between HIV positive persons and HIV negative. A questionnaire (composed by the WHOQOL-HIV Bref/WHOQOL Bref, the HADS and the SQQ6) was completed by a sample of 119 persons (67 HIV-positive persons and 52 HIV-negative). The results show that social support had mainly an influence on the social relationship quality of life of our participants, but not on the emotional distress. It also point out a difference regarding physical, psychological, independent and social relationship quality of life and the presence of anxiety and depression disadvantaging HIV-positive persons when compared to healthy people. These results suggest the development of interventions with relatives could improve the quality of life of people living with HIV and as well as researches on the impact of social support.