Shivanand Basayya Hiremath, Mahesh Desai
BACKGROUND Women bear the brunt of disastrous effects of HIV/AIDS as they are the major caregivers and in return they get very less support and care. Depression is the commonest psychiatric condition seen in HIV positive patients and it is affected by many socio demographic correlates like age, gender, socio-economic status, area of residence and Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) medications. Social support is an important factor against stigma and depression. As the wide availability of ART has increased the survival among the HIV positive persons, it becomes essential to focus on the Quality of Life (QoL) of the sufferer. The objectives of this study were 1. to assess depression, social support and QoL in HIV positive women 2. to study the association of depression with social support and QoL among HIV positive women attending ART centre attached to tertiary care centre in South India. MATERIALS AND METHODS This cross-sectional study constituted of 145 HIV positive women; depression was assessed using BDI (Beck Depression Inventory), social support was assessed using Lubben social network scale and QoL was assessed using World Health Organization – Quality of Life BREF scale. Data was analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 22. Chi-square test, Independent t test and ANOVA were used appropriately. p value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. RESULTS Depression was found to be present in 34.5% of subjects. No statistical significance was found between depression and socio-demographic variables except for area of residence. Significant association between depression and risk of isolation was observed among HIV positive women. Significant mean difference was observed for all the domains of QoL with Severity of Depression. CONCLUSION The present study shows a high prevalence of depression in HIV positive women and low social support and quality of life.
