Psychological health and social support in patients with HIV/AIDS in south-east Iran in 2015

Introduction: HIV infection affects all the aspects of life including psychological, physical and social. Social and psychological support can help them to cope better with the disease. In this study we evaluate psychological health, social support and associated factors with them among patients with HIV/AIDS who receive health services from Zahedan University of Medical Sciences (south-east Iran).Materials and methods: It is a cross-sectional study. Study population included patients with HIV/AIDS who referred to health centers of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences. Patients were selected by available sampling. Data gathering tools included: Epidemiologic information form, Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being and Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Scale (MOS-SSS).Results: This study was carried out on 110 patients with HIV/AIDS who were over 16 years old. Most of them (75.5%) were men. Transmission way in 59.1 % of patients was intravenous drug injection abuse. Psychological health score for men was significantly higher than women. Although social support score was higher for men, but it was not statistically significant. It was recognized in multivariate regression test that social support score had a significant positive predictive effect but disease stage (AIDS versus HIV infection) and gender ( female versus male) had a negative predictive effect on patients’ psychological health scores.Conclusion: It seems important to reinforce harm reduction programs and improving social support policies for patients with HIV/AIDS, especially for women and patients in AIDS stage.

Keywords:

Psychological health , social support , HIV/AIDS , Harm reduction