- 學位論文
QUALITY OF LIFE OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS IN THE GAMBIA
QUALITY OF LIFE OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS IN THE GAMBIA
並列摘要
Title: Quality of Life of People Living with HIV/AIDS in The Gambia Author: Ismaila Sanyang Thesis advised by: Kuo-Cherh Huang, Dr.PH Objective. Despite increasing use of quality of life assessments for people living with HIV/AIDS in many parts of the world, no such assessment has been conducted in The Gambia. Therefore, objective of this study was to determine the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS in the Gambia. Methods. A face-to-face interview was conducted using the WHO quality of life HIV specific instrument WHOQOL-HIV BREF at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital. Data was collected from August to December 2010 with random sample of 208. There were 106 respondents on highly active anti-retroviral therapy. SPSS version 16.0 was used for data analysis and independent-sample t-test, ANOVA and multiple regression analyses were used to examine hypotheses of the study whilst correlation was assessed by Pearson Correlation analyses. The study was approved by the Gambia Government/ Medical Research Council Joint Ethics Committee. Results. Independent-sample t-test and multiple regression analyses showed that gender is the most important predictor of quality of life (p<0.024 and p<0.043 respectively) with females exhibiting higher mean quality of life than males (µ=3.51 vs µ=3.24.There were positive correlations between quality of life with physical, psychological, level of independence, social relationship, environment and spirituality/religion domains with quality of life. However, use of highly active anti-retroviral therapy was not a significant determinant of quality of life. Discussion: The finding of females exhibiting higher quality of life compared to males is not in agreement with many studies. Nonetheless, it gives us another viewpoint of gender difference in quality of life in the research context. Married and living as married statuses improving quality of life underpins the importance of supportive environment in marriage relationships. The findings of this study support the incorporation of quality life assessment into the HIV/AIDS care program at Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital and in The Gambia and expand access to anti-retroviral therapy to all people living with the virus. A follow-up study should be conducted to evaluate the impact of highly active anti-retroviral therapy on quality of life.