Quality of life and HIV adherence self-efficacy in adolescents and young adults living with perinatal HIV in Chiang Mai, Thailand

ABSTRACT

We assessed the quality of life and HIV adherence self-efficacy of adolescents and young adults (AYA) with perinatal HIV infection (PHIV). This cross-sectional study was conducted in Chiang Mai, Thailand. AYA-PHIV aged between 15 and 25 years were enrolled, who all were initiated on antiretroviral treatment as children. The World Health Organization-quality of life-BREF questionnaire and the HIV Treatment Adherence Self-Efficacy Scale (HIV-ASES) were administered. A total of 111 AYA-PHIV were included, including 52 (47%) females. Their median age was 20.2 ± 2.6 years. The overall QOL was rated as favorable (good or very good) by 59.4% of AYA-PHIV. The highest score was seen in the social relationships domain followed by the environmental health domain. Males had a significantly lower score in the psychological health domain than females (p = 0.018). Simple linear regression revealed a negative association between male sex, physical, and psychological health domain scores. The overall mean HIV–ASES score was 7.79 ± 1.96 out of 10, with a trend toward lower scores in males (p = 0.062), and a weak positive correlation with QOL. Our study documented worse QOL and lower HIV adherence self-efficacy in male AYA-PHIV. The findings call for the design of tailored male-focused interventions.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescents and young adults
• perinatal HIV
• quality of life
• HIV adherence self-efficacy
• Thailand

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the adolescents and young adults and their caregivers who devoted time to participate in this study. We also would like to thank the study staff who conducted data collection, and the HIV clinic staff who helped in coordinating study activities and routine services.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Chiang Mai University.