Social support and support groups among people with HIV/AIDS in Ghana

ABSTRACT

HIV/AIDS, a chronic burden in Ghana, poses social and health outcome concerns to those infected. Examining the Medical Outcome Study Social Support Survey (MOS-SSS) instrument among 300 Ghanaians from a cross-sectional design, Principal Component Analysis yielded four factors (positive interaction, trust building, information giving, and essential support), which accounted for 85.73% of the total variance in the MOS-SSS. A logistic regression analysis showed that essential support was the strongest predictor of the length of time an individual stayed in the support group, whereas positive interaction indicated negative association. The study’s implications for policy, research, and practice were discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Essential social support
• factor analysis
• Ghana
• HIV/AIDS
• length of stay in support groups

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the developers of the quality of life and social support scales, Dr. Albert Wu and Drs. Cathy D. Sherbourne and Anita L. Stewart, respectively, for granting the permission to use their scales. The author express gratitude to those who responded to the survey.

Funding

Many thanks go to the West African Research Association, Boston University (WARA), and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) School of Social Work for partially funding and supporting this project.

Additional information

Funding

Many thanks go to the West African Research Association, Boston University (WARA), and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) School of Social Work for partially funding and supporting this project.