Department of Health Promotion and Behavior, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia.
Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, East Sussex, United Kingdom.
J Rural Health. 2018 Dec;34(1):71-79. doi: 10.1111/jrh.12238. Epub 2017 Mar 14.
In spite of progress in understanding the importance of social support for health outcomes in Persons Living with HIV (PLWH), more remains to be known about mechanisms of support most beneficial at each stage of HIV treatment. In this study, we use a qualitative analytic approach to investigate the forms and sources of social support deemed most integral to the diagnosis, care engagement, and medication adherence behaviors of a diverse sample of PLWH in a mostly rural health district in the Southeastern United States.
In-depth interviews (N = 18) were collected during the qualitative phase of a larger mixed methods needs assessment for the Northeast Georgia Health District. A deductive-inductive analysis of participant narratives revealed variation in the perceived importance of particular forms and sources of social support during the initial versus advanced stages of HIV care.
PLWH identified the emotional, informational, and appraisal support provided by family as especially critical for emotional stability, coping, and care linkage during the initial stages of diagnosis and treatment. However, once in care, PLWH emphasized informational and instrumental forms of support from care providers and appraisal support from peers as key influences in care engagement and retention behaviors.
Increased understanding of the social support mechanisms that contribute to the HIV treatment behaviors of PLWH can fill knowledge gaps in research and inform the efforts of health care providers seeking to leverage various aspects of the social support toward improving the care retention, health, and wellness outcomes of PLWH.
尽管人们越来越认识到社会支持对 HIV 感染者（PLWH）健康结果的重要性，但在了解 HIV 治疗每个阶段最有益的支持机制方面还有很多工作要做。在这项研究中，我们使用定性分析方法来调查社会支持的形式和来源，这些形式和来源被认为对美国东南部一个以农村为主的卫生区中多样化的 PLWH 的诊断、护理参与和药物依从行为至关重要。
在对佐治亚州东北部卫生区进行的一项更大的混合方法需求评估的定性阶段收集了深入访谈（N=18）。对参与者叙述的演绎-归纳分析揭示了在 HIV 护理的初始阶段和高级阶段，特定形式和来源的社会支持的感知重要性存在差异。
PLWH 认为家庭提供的情感、信息和评估支持在诊断和治疗的初始阶段对情绪稳定、应对和护理联系特别重要。然而，一旦开始接受护理，PLWH 就强调来自护理提供者的信息和工具形式的支持以及来自同伴的评估支持，这些支持是参与护理和保持护理行为的关键影响因素。
深入了解促进 PLWH HIV 治疗行为的社会支持机制，可以填补研究中的知识空白，并为寻求利用社会支持的各个方面来改善 PLWH 的护理保留率、健康和幸福感的医疗保健提供者提供信息。
