Assessment of quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS at various institutions of Kathmandu Valley.

Thesis Report.

ABSTRACT: This present study was conducted to assess the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS at various institution of Kathmandu Valley. Identifying the level of health related quality of life (HQoL) and their influencing factors in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive people is of extreme importance in implementing an interventional program to support this group. The objective of this study was to identify the socio-demographic status and measure the association of HQoL with various disease related and socio-demographic variables. This cross-sectional study was conducted using a convenience sampling method on108 patients living with HIV or suffering from AIDS. The method of data collection was summarized questionnaire of World Health Organization (WHO-QOL-Brief). The main measured outcome in this study was quality of life and some related demographic and clinical variables. The majority of the patients was males (52.8%) with secondary education (33.3%) and married (48.1%); the majority of them were employed (65.7%). The mean±SD age of the patients was 31.88 ±8.25 years. Gender, Age and marital status had no significant relation with the quality of life whereas level of education, CD4+ count, and Presence of OIs, had a significant effect on the quality of life of the patients. The most important factors, association with decreased quality of life of the patients in this study, were being lower secondary education, unemployment, having less CD4+ count, and presence of opportunistic infections.

Key words: HIV/AIDS, WHOQOL-HIV BREF, Nepal, Quality of Life

Eng.