Biomaterial Database

The psychological status of HIV-positive people and their psychosocial experiences in eastern China. 2010

C Jin, and G Zhao, and F Zhang, and L Feng, and N Wu

State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Disease, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, China.

OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to investigate the psychological status and the psychosocial experiences of HIV-positive people using Symptom Check List 90 (SCL-90) in eastern China. METHODS Two hundred and fourteen HIV-positive people and 200 controls were recruited to the study. Participants were given an anonymous questionnaire which included questions pertaining to demography, SCL-90 and psychosocial experiences. RESULTS The mean subscale scores for SCL-90 in the HIV-positive group were all higher than those of the control group (P<0.001), especially for depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and hostility. Female HIV-positive individuals had significantly higher depression and anxiety scores (P<0.05) and more scores higher than 2.0 than male HIV-positive individuals. The average number of subscales with mean scores higher than 2.0 was 4.1 for female HIV-positive individuals and 3.7 for male HIV-positive individuals. The most common psychosocial experiences related to HIV infection were fear (36.9%) and helplessness (31.8%). 90.2% of HIV-positive people would not tell others about their disease because of fear of discrimination against family members (42.2%), exclusion by community members (26.9%) and abandonment (23.3%). Discrimination from acquaintances (38.8%) was a main stressor in the HIV-positive individuals' daily life. Most members of HIV-positive individuals' communities expressed negative attitudes: alienation, coldness, aversion and fear. 38.3% of the HIV-positive participants reported that their family members had been discriminated against. CONCLUSIONS The results demonstrate that HIV-positive people in eastern China live in a negative psychosocial environment and suffer from psychological distress. It is necessary to provide psychological interventions for people living with AIDS and to educate community members in order to improve the psychosocial environment.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D009771	Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder	An anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent, persistent obsessions or compulsions. Obsessions are the intrusive ideas, thoughts, or images that are experienced as senseless or repugnant. Compulsions are repetitive and seemingly purposeful behavior which the individual generally recognizes as senseless and from which the individual does not derive pleasure although it may provide a release from tension.	Anankastic Personality,Neurosis, Obsessive-Compulsive,Anankastic Personalities,Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive,Disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive,Neuroses, Obsessive-Compulsive,Neurosis, Obsessive Compulsive,Obsessive Compulsive Disorder,Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders,Obsessive-Compulsive Neuroses,Obsessive-Compulsive Neurosis,Personalities, Anankastic,Personality, Anankastic
D011569	Psychiatric Status Rating Scales	Standardized procedures utilizing rating scales or interview schedules carried out by health personnel for evaluating the degree of mental illness.	Factor Construct Rating Scales (FCRS),Katz Adjustment Scales,Lorr's Inpatient Multidimensional Psychiatric Rating Scale,Wittenborn Scales,Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale,Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview
D011795	Surveys and Questionnaires	Collections of data obtained from voluntary subjects. The information usually takes the form of answers to questions, or suggestions.	Community Survey,Nonrespondent,Questionnaire,Questionnaires,Respondent,Survey,Survey Method,Survey Methods,Surveys,Baseline Survey,Community Surveys,Methodology, Survey,Nonrespondents,Questionnaire Design,Randomized Response Technique,Repeated Rounds of Survey,Respondents,Survey Methodology,Baseline Surveys,Design, Questionnaire,Designs, Questionnaire,Methods, Survey,Questionnaire Designs,Questionnaires and Surveys,Randomized Response Techniques,Response Technique, Randomized,Response Techniques, Randomized,Survey, Baseline,Survey, Community,Surveys, Baseline,Surveys, Community,Techniques, Randomized Response
D002681	China	A country spanning from central Asia to the Pacific Ocean.	Inner Mongolia,Manchuria,People's Republic of China,Sinkiang,Mainland China
D003863	Depression	Depressive states usually of moderate intensity in contrast with MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER present in neurotic and psychotic disorders.	Depressive Symptoms,Emotional Depression,Depression, Emotional,Depressive Symptom,Symptom, Depressive
D005260	Female		Females
D006679	HIV Seropositivity	Development of neutralizing antibodies in individuals who have been exposed to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV/HTLV-III/LAV).	AIDS Seroconversion,AIDS Seropositivity,Anti-HIV Positivity,HIV Antibody Positivity,HIV Seroconversion,HTLV-III Seroconversion,HTLV-III Seropositivity,AIDS Seroconversions,AIDS Seropositivities,Anti HIV Positivity,Anti-HIV Positivities,Antibody Positivities, HIV,Antibody Positivity, HIV,HIV Antibody Positivities,HIV Seroconversions,HIV Seropositivities,HTLV III Seroconversion,HTLV III Seropositivity,HTLV-III Seroconversions,HTLV-III Seropositivities,Positivities, Anti-HIV,Positivities, HIV Antibody,Positivity, Anti-HIV,Positivity, HIV Antibody,Seroconversion, AIDS,Seroconversion, HIV,Seroconversion, HTLV-III,Seroconversions, AIDS,Seroconversions, HIV,Seroconversions, HTLV-III,Seropositivities, AIDS,Seropositivities, HIV,Seropositivities, HTLV-III,Seropositivity, AIDS,Seropositivity, HIV,Seropositivity, HTLV-III
D006791	Hostility	Tendency to feel anger toward and to seek to inflict harm upon a person or group.	Hostilities
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man