Quality of life of children living in HIV/AIDS-affected families in rural areas in Yunnan, China

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the main influencing factors of the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of children living in HIV/AIDS-affected families in rural areas in Yunnan, China. The HRQL of 116 children aged 8–17 from HIV/AIDS-affected families and 109 children from unaffected families was evaluated by the Chinese Version of PedsQL^TM 4.0. Some potential influencing factors were questioned, such as demographic characteristics, the families’ social and economic status, foster models, children's self-esteem, etc. The HRQL of children's caregivers may also have been among the influencing factors, as measured by short-form 36 (SF-36). Multiple regression analysis was used to explore the influence of independent variables on children's HRQL. The findings showed that children from HIV/AIDS-affected families reported lower scores of HRQL than those from unaffected families, especially in domains of psychosocial functioning, emotional functioning, and school functioning. Results of multiple regression analysis showed that lower levels of children's self-esteem and caregivers’ SF-36 reduced the majority of PedsQL domains. Children living with grandparents reported higher PedsQL scores in psychosocial health, social functioning, and school functioning. Disclosure of parental HIV/AIDS status reduced children's PedsQL scores in emotional functioning and social functioning. Caregivers spending more hours accompanying the children appeared to increase the PedsQL scores in psychosocial health and school functioning. The findings indicate that the child's self-esteem, the caregiver's perceived quality of life, the child's foster pattern, the average hours of company provided by the caregiver, and whether the child was informed of the parent's HIV/AIDS status are important factors influencing HRQL. Interventions aiming at these factors should be developed to improve the HRQL of children affected by HIV/AIDS.

Keywords:

• child
• quality of life
• PedsQL
• HIV/AIDS
• influencing factors

Acknowledgements

The findings of this study were partly presented in the 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP). The first author received professional trainings in the NIH Grant number 1U2R TW006918-01, China Multidisciplinary AIDS Prevention Training Program (China ICOHRTA, with Principal Investigator Zunyou Wu). We would like to thank Prof. Varni for permission to use the PedsQL^TM 4.0 Generic Core Scales. We are also grateful to all the children and their caregivers who so willingly participated in this study, as well as to our collaborators in Longchuan County CDC in Yunnan Province. Our thanks also go to Naomi Juniper for editorial assistance.