Quality of life among women living with HIV/AIDS in Yangon, Myanmar.
OBJECTIVE
Women living with HIV/AIDS have many problems, especially in their quality of life. Although they receive ARTI they still experience stress and are discriminated against in their communities. Stigmatization, social support and other individual factors such as disease progression, economic status and gender role are determinants of quality of life among women living with HIV/AIDS. This cross sectional study was aimed to measure the quality of life among women living with HIV/AIDS in Yangon and to identify the factors that are able to predict it.


METHODS
172 women living with HIV/AIDS, were included in the present study and were interviewed by using questionnaires. The WHOQOL-BREFform with 26 items was usedfor assessing the quality of life, then t-test and regression analysis was used for statistical analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
Overall quality of life all domain scores were presented with transformed score (0 to 100 scale) for comparison, and the mean score was 79.7. Physical domain was the highest with a score of 58.19, social domain was 56.49, psychological domain was 48.54 and environmental domain was 46.84. A total of 64.5% had experienced a low level of perceived stigma, and only 0.6% experienced a high level of perceived stigma. Only 7% had good social support and 22.1% had low support. Social support, last CD4 count, family income per month, age, stigma and duration of treatment were determined as the significant predictors on quality of life after controlling for other factors. The factors could explain 22% of the variation in quality of life. In the absence of good social networks, peer group support, family involvement and support, reduction of stigma through multi-sectored approaches, women with HIV/AIDS will continue to suffer poor quality of life, less enjoyment and poor life satisfaction.
Suwat
S
Srisorrachatr
Seinne Lai
SL
Zaw
Kanittha
K
Chamroonsawasdi
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002052:Myanmar / Q000453:epidemiology; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011287:Prejudice; D011788:Quality of Life; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires