Abdulai Marijanatu, Teg-Nefaah Tabong Philip, Affran Bonful Harriet, Addo-Lartey Adolphina, Sarfo Bismark
Department of Epidemiology and Disease Control, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana.
National AIDS/STI Control Programme, Public Health Division of the Ghana Health Service, Legon, Accra, Ghana.
PLoS One. 2025 Jun 13;20(6):e0324824. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0324824. eCollection 2025.
The introduction and rapid scale-up of AntiRetroviral Treatment (ART) has contributed to a significant reduction in HIV-associated morbidities and mortalities, resulting in increasing life expectancy. Ageing with HIV presents several challenges which affect peoples' well-being and quality of life (QoL). Despite this, there is scarcity of research on the QoL of Elderly Persons Living with HIV (EPLHIV) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), particularly in Ghana. This study, therefore, examines the QoL of the elderly population using a qualitative approach.
A purposive sampling method was used to select eight (8) participants for Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and twenty-nine (29) participants for Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). In all, eight (8) KIIs with stakeholders and four (4) FGDs with EPLHIV were used to collect data for this study. Both the KIIs and FGDs interview guides addressed the four domains of the WHO's Quality of Life (WHOQoL) Bref assessment tool; physical, psychological, social, and environmental health with the overall focus on evaluating quality of life. The data was analysed thematically using QSR NVivo 11.
Of the 37 participants, majority (54%) of them were females, and a considerable proportion (94%) had attained formal education. The most prolonged duration of persons living with HIV among the respondents was 25 years. Four main themes were identified: physical health, social well being, environmental health, and psychological health. The study further revealed that EPLHIV reflect on their condition, face the dilemma of disclosing their status, are confronted with inadequate privacy for health care, wait long in the queue at the health facilities to be attended to, and have no focused or tailored HIV services for the EPLHIV and experiences worsened physical conditions.
The study's findings shed light on the quality of life among EPLHIV, offering new evidence. Consequently, some of the conditions related to the various domains such as stigma, delay in receiving health care could negatively influence the QoL of EPLHIV. To improve the QoL of EPLHIV, it is imperative to implement specialized services tailored to the unique needs of EPLHIV. Additionally, healthcare workers at ART clinics should receive training in psychological and geriatric care counseling, considering the increasing life expectancy of EPLHIV. There should be counseling sessions on disclosure and non-disclosure to help those who want to disclose their status do so.
抗逆转录病毒治疗（ART）的引入和迅速推广显著降低了与艾滋病毒相关的发病率和死亡率，从而提高了预期寿命。感染艾滋病毒后的老龄化带来了一些挑战，影响着人们的幸福感和生活质量（QoL）。尽管如此，撒哈拉以南非洲（SSA），特别是加纳，对感染艾滋病毒的老年人（EPLHIV）的生活质量研究匮乏。因此，本研究采用定性方法探讨老年人群的生活质量。
采用目的抽样法，选取8名参与者进行关键信息访谈（KIIs），29名参与者进行焦点小组讨论（FGDs）。本研究共进行了8次与利益相关者的关键信息访谈以及4次与感染艾滋病毒的老年人的焦点小组讨论来收集数据。关键信息访谈和焦点小组讨论的访谈指南均涉及世界卫生组织生活质量（WHOQoL）简表评估工具的四个领域；身体健康、心理健康、社会健康和环境健康，总体重点是评估生活质量。使用QSR NVivo 11对数据进行主题分析。
在37名参与者中，大多数（54%）为女性，相当一部分（94%）接受过正规教育。受访者中感染艾滋病毒时间最长的为25年。确定了四个主要主题：身体健康、社会福祉、环境健康和心理健康。研究进一步表明，感染艾滋病毒的老年人反思自己的状况，面临披露病情的困境，在医疗保健方面缺乏隐私，在医疗机构排队等候时间长，没有针对感染艾滋病毒的老年人的专门或定制的艾滋病毒服务，并且身体状况恶化。
该研究结果揭示了感染艾滋病毒的老年人的生活质量，提供了新的证据。因此，与各个领域相关的一些情况，如耻辱感、接受医疗保健的延迟，可能会对感染艾滋病毒的老年人的生活质量产生负面影响。为了提高感染艾滋病毒的老年人的生活质量，必须实施针对其独特需求的专门服务。此外，考虑到感染艾滋病毒的老年人预期寿命的增加，抗逆转录病毒治疗诊所的医护人员应接受心理和老年护理咨询方面的培训。应该有关于披露和不披露病情的咨询会议，以帮助那些想披露自己病情的人这样做。
