Quality of life and related factors for people living with HIV/AIDS in Northern Taiwan.

The purpose of this study was to identify the variables related to quality of life in the population of individuals living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Taiwan. Purposive sampling was used to identify subjects from the outpatient departments (OPD) of three teaching hospitals and one sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic in the Taipei area. For this study, the questionnaire included a demographic data sheet, physical-symptom distress and mood-disturbance scales, a personal-resource questionnaire (PRQ85-II) and a quality-of-life index (QLI). A total of 114 subjects completed the questionnaire. The results revealed that higher quality of life was associated with less mood disturbance (r = -.72; p <.001), reduced physical-symptom distress (r = -.47; r <.001), and higher levels of social support (r =.57; p <.001). PLWHA life quality was reflected accurately by mood disturbance, social support, physical-symptom distress, self-perceived mode of HIV transmission, and major source of financial support. These variables accounted for 60.9 % of QOL variance. As mood disturbance was the strongest predictor of quality of life, psychosocial intervention for mood disturbance should be emphasized and developed in future studies.