Coping strategies and associated factors among older Chinese people living with HIV/AIDS

ABSTRACT

Coping strategies play a prominent role in maintaining mental health, but little is known about the main coping strategies and potential influential factors among older Chinese adults with HIV/AIDS. Cross-sectional data of 254 older with HIV/AIDS aged 50 ~ 84 years (160 males and 94 females) from Hunan, China were analyzed to evaluate influential factors associated with coping strategies. The scores of all participants in the different sub-scales of confrontation, avoidance and acceptance-resignation were 15.16 ± 4.03, 16.44 ± 2.70, and 11.06 ± 4.00, respectively. For the confrontation coping strategy, higher scores were obtained by those with a higher education level, non-sexually transmitted HIV, and a first diagnosis at less than 50 years old. Avoidance as a coping strategy was significantly associated with a longer period living with the diagnosis. The participants who were females, unemployed, annual income less than 1000 yuan, had lived with HIV for a longer period, and had disclosed their infection status to their family members were more likely to adopt the acceptance-resignation coping strategy in response to HIV/AIDS. These preliminary findings can provide evidence for effective interventions to improve coping capacity and psychological status in this population.

KEYWORDS:

• Older adults
• HIV/AIDS
• coping strategies
• influential factors

Acknowledgments

We thank the Master’s Research Project of Central South University for supporting this study. We also sincerely thank all the participants and their family supporters without whom this study would have not been possible, and the healthcare providers of those CDCs, who assist in the data collection of the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Master’s Research Project of Central South University [No. 502231801].