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. 2017 Jun;40(3):434-444.
doi: 10.1007/s10865-016-9812-0. Epub 2016 Nov 30.

HIV-related shame and health-related quality of life among older, HIV-positive adults

Wilson Vincent  1 , Xindi Fang  2 , Sarah K Calabrese  3 , Timothy G Heckman  4 , Kathleen J Sikkema  5 , Nathan B Hansen  4
Affiliations

HIV-related shame and health-related quality of life among older, HIV-positive adults

Wilson Vincent et al. J Behav Med. 2017 Jun.

Abstract

This study investigated how HIV-related shame is associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in older people living with HIV (PLHIV). Structural equation modeling tested whether HIV-related shame was associated with three dimensions of HRQoL (physical, emotional, and social well-being) and whether there were significant indirect associations of HIV-related shame with the three HRQoL dimensions via depression and loneliness in a sample of 299 PLHIV ≥50 years old. Results showed that depression and loneliness were key mechanisms, with depression at least partially accounting for the association between HIV-related shame and both emotional and physical well-being, respectively, and loneliness accounting for the association between HIV-related shame and social well-being. HIV-related shame appears to be an important correlate of HRQoL in older PLHIV and may provide a promising leveraging point by which to improve HRQoL in older PLHIV.

Keywords: Aging; Depression; HIV/AIDS; Loneliness; Quality of life; Shame.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest Wilson Vincent, Xindi Fang, Sarah K. Calabrese, Timothy G. Heckman, Kathleen J. Sikkema, and Nathan B. Hansen declares that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Variables in the figure represent latent variables with standardized coefficients. Given that each factor was unidimensional, indicator variables were randomly assigned to parcels for each latent variable to reduce model complexity. The intermediary and outcome variables were regressed on the following covariates: age, gender (male as reference group), location (New York as reference group, Ohio as non-reference group), race/ethnicity (Blacks as reference group), highest level of education achieved (less than high school diploma as reference group), and income ($0–10,000 as reference group). *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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