title: [Social representations of health-related quality of life in people suffering from HIV/AIDS in Medellin, Colombia].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Ascertaining social representations about health-related quality of life in a group of people suffering from HIV/AIDS in Medellin, Colombia, 2009.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a qualitative, grounded theory-based study of 19 people living with HIV / AIDS;, all participants completed three interviews involving open, axial and selective encoding. Social representations were addressed through a procedural approach involving hermeneutics. Methodological rigor criteria were credibility, auditability and transferability, category saturation, investigative, methodological and theoretical triangulation and constant comparative analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Social representations of health-related quality of life were based on biological determinants such as the importance of HAART and health services, psychological ones such as the acceptance of diagnosis and the relevance of health information, and social ones such as stigma and social support. They also described the various strategies that participants used for improving their health-related quality of life.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Social representations of health-related quality of life were multidimensional; such knowledge is fundamental for improving HIV/AIDS prevention strategies and health education programmes targeted at infected people, because they include experience, knowledge and language regarding the affected people's everyday life.
authors.affiliation: Grupo de investigación Salud y Sostenibilidad, Escuela de Microbiología, Universidad de Antioquia.Medellín, Colombia. mjaca462@gmail.com
authors.forename: Jaiberth A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Cardona-Arias
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003105:Colombia; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012938:Social Perception