Quality Of Life And Its Influencers In The AIDS Populations In Shanghai

[Objective]:Under a Chinese cultural environment, to understand the quality of life and its influencers for AIDS patients who received AIDS treatment in Shanghai.[Subject]:The quantitative portion of the study involved 77 AIDS patients (49 out-patient subjects,28 in-patient subjects). The qualitative portion of the study involved 118 AIDS patients (48 out-patient subjects,70 in-patient subjects).[Method]:Research Portion 1:Using the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) instrument, which considers the four aspects of physical health, mental health, interpersonal relationships, and social environment, to measure the quality of life of AIDS patients.Research Portion 2:Using a self-developed visiting syllabus, a semi-structure interview process and an in-depth interview, this portion of the study attempts to further understand the quality of life of AIDS patients and influencers.[Results]:1. The quality of life of AIDS patients in Shanghai is significantly lower than the average quality of life of people without AIDS. In the three areas of (1) financial status, (2) information availability, and (3) medical environment AIDS patients scored particularly low. During further analysis, the quality of life has a negative relationship with age of patient and length of time since diagnosis (the older the patients and the longer that the diagnosis has been made, the lower the quality of life), while the quality of life has a positive relationship with level of education (the higher the education received by the patients, the better of the quality of the life). The results from the qualitative study reconfirm the results from the quantitative study.2.a. With respect to psychological health, patients were often identified with frequent severe self-abrasive tendencies, a decrease of fear towards HIV/AIDS over time, a renewed sense of life and death, and an increase in willingness towards treatment.b. With respect to physical health, patients had significantly weaker immune systems, prolonged exposures to pain and unease, and heavily impaired function at work and in daily life.c. With respect to social relationships, patients found support most frequently by family members, close friends, fellow patients, and grassroots organizations, while more distant relationships emitted negative influences on the patients. Furthermore, the study found stigma and discrimination towards AIDS patients from other non-AIDS departments within the hospital.d. With respect to social environment, patients and their family members were found to be carrying heavy financial burdens.3. Five factors under two domains were found to influence the quality of life for AIDS patients. These include motivational influencer (i.e. coping style, self-consciousness), resource influencer (i.e. social support, physical health, economic condition). Furthermore, the factors in motivational influencer were found to be mutually influenced, and the factors in resource influencer are also mutually influenced. Finally motivational influencer has influence on resource influencer, and the negative influenced experienced by AIDS patients outweighs the positive influence that they receive.