Evaluation of Quality of Life in Women with HIV/AIDS According to the HAT-QoL

Abstract

Objective: Check the socio-demographic profile and quality of life of women living with HIV/AIDS in the city of Imperatriz, MaranhãoBrazil and make a correlation between the domains of quality of life with the age, education, and individual income.

Method: This is a cross-sectional and quantitative study, conducted in the Specialized Care Service of patients with HIV/AIDS the city of Imperatriz, Maranhão-Brazil; which treats patients from southern Maranhão-Brazil, state of Pará-Brazil and Tocantins-Brazil. Socio-demographic data were collected through a structured questionnaire, containing data on age, marital status, education, occupation, individual income and sexually active; and to assess the quality of life used the instrument HIV/AIDS Targeted Quality of Life-HAT-QoL; what evaluates the quality of life in 9 dimensions; being these dimensions; general function, satisfaction with life, health concerns, financial concerns, concerns about the medication, acceptance of HIV, confidentiality concerns, trust in the professional, and sexual function. The scores range from 0 to 100, where 0 is the worst possible score and 100 is the best possible score, and considered as mild damage the quality of life domains that had scores below 70 and the bad with scores below 50, influencing negatively the quality of life. Data were analyzed using the statistical program BioEstat 5.0 considering a 5% level of significance (p ≤ 0.05).

Results: Thirty-nine women participated in the study, 53.9% were aged over 40 years old, single, had at most completed elementary school and retired; 61.5% had an individual income of one minimum wage, and all were sexually active. Regarding the quality of life, the domains with scores below 50 were financial concerns, acceptance  of HIV and sexual function, domains overall function, life satisfaction, health concerns, presented a slight loss in the life of the woman who lives with AIDS, with scores greater than 50 and less than 70; since the concerns domains with the medication and confidence in the professional, showed scores above 70. The scores of HAT-QoL domains shown to be correlated with age, education and individual income of women living with AIDS, age was a statistically significant result with the concern confidentiality domain (p=0.01), education, the only domain that showed significant relationship was trust in the professional (p=0.04).

Conclusion: Even after thirty-six years of the emergence of AIDS, it is still a barrier for HIV-positive women accept their health condition and the concern to conceal the diagnosis. The sexual intercourse of women living with AIDS show a domain that negatively alters their quality of life, however trust in the health professional and the use of medications did not interfere in the lives of the interviewees. Women with higher age and with low levels of education and income are beginning to emerge in the scenario of those living with AIDS, showing a direct relationship with quality of life, especially regarding age and education.