[The perception of health, social support and family function in HIV seropositivity].

OBJECTIVE

To discover the perception of health, social support and family function for asymptomatic HIV carriers.

DESIGN

This was an observation crossover study, using validated questionnaires.

SETTING

Almanjayar and Cartuja Health Centres in Granada.

PATIENTS AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS

58 HIV+ patients belonging to the two basic areas were included. They were selected from the archives of the health centres and from the infectious diseases clinic of the referral hospital. There were an equal number of controls with similar socio-demographic characteristics.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

The questionnaires used were as follows: GHQ, DUKE-UNC, the family APGAR, which measure health perception, social support and family function, respectively. Of seropositive patients, 58% presented a negative perception of their health, mainly expressed through symptoms of anguish and anxiety; as against 25% of the control group. As to social support, 29% of the HIV+ carriers perceived low levels of support, as against 6.9% of the control group. We found family dysfunction among 46% of seropositive patients, as against 12% of the control group. The Chi squared test was used for the analysis: all the differences were significant.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients who are HIV carriers, even when they are asymptomatic, have a poor health perception, which can be attributed to the nature of the illness. The low level of social support detected, linked to the stress involved in being seropositive, may be the origin of the family dysfunction observed in 46% of our sample. We recommend action at individual, family and community levels in order to improve these patients' quality of life, strength their support structures and restore balance to family function.