title: Relationship between Health-Related Quality of Life and Social Support in HIV-Infected People in Tehran, Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The present study was conducted to determine the association between social support and health-related QOL (HRQL) for a sample of 120 patients living with HIV/AIDS in Tehran.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty male and 40 female living with HIV referred to Iranian AIDS Research Center at Imam Khomini Hospital in Tehran, Iran in 2011 were randomly selected for assessment. Data was collected by means of Vaux's Social Support questionnaire and Medical Outcomes Short-Form-36 (SF-36) QOL questionnaires. Pearson (P) Correlation Coefficient and Fisher z-test were used for statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In general, social support was significantly associated with overall QOL in men (P = 0.001) and women (P = 0.009) living with HIV/AIDS. In men, social support was significantly associated with mental and physical domains of QOL (P = 0.001) while in women it simply associated with mental domain of QOL (P = 0.003).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings indicate that increasing social support for HIV/AIDS persons increases their QOL. This can help those physicians who are involved in care of HIV-infected persons and it maintains QOL across the spec-trum of HIV disease.
authors.affiliation: 1. Dept. of Social Work Group, University of Social Welfare & Rehabilitation Sciences , Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Charkhian
authors.affiliation: 1. Dept. of Social Work Group, University of Social Welfare & Rehabilitation Sciences , Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hosein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fekrazad
authors.affiliation: 2. Dept. of Social Welfare Group, University of Social Welfare & Rehabilitation Sciences , Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Homeira
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sajadi
authors.affiliation: 3. Dept. of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, Zanjan University , Zanjan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rahgozar
authors.affiliation: 4. Dept. of Statistics, University of Social Welfare & Rehabilitation Sciences , Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahboubeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haji Abdolbaghi
authors.affiliation: 5. Iranian AIDS Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences , Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Somayyeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maddahi
keywords: HIV; Health; Iran; Quality of Life; Social support