Social support and quality of life in patients with HIV / AIDS, Monteria residents. Colombia

Objetive: to determine the association between social support and quality of life of patients with HIV / AIDS receiving antiretroviral therapy. Methodology: we performed a quantitative study of analytic type. The population consisted of patients with HIV / AIDS receiving antiretroviral therapy in Monteria, Colombia. A total of 77 patients was choosed using a simple random sampling and were assessed for quality of life through the instrument QLI-SP and perceived social support scale. To determine the degree of association we used the Spearman coefficient. Results: the mean age was 33.3 years [CI 95% (31 – 35,8)]. Sixty two percent of patients were men. Among the dimensions of quality of life, physical and occupational functioning reported higher average, while dimensions of community support, social support and personal fulfillment had the lowest average. None of the average dimensions exceeded 7 points on a scale of 1 to 10. Dimension of community support had the greatest variability. The highest correlation was reported by personal fulfillment and family support (r = 0.56, P = 0.0). Conclusion: the interpersonal functioning, social support, community support, personal fulfillment, spiritual fulfillment and overall perception of the quality of life are moderately correlated with the support of family, friends and significant other