Abstract
Status disclosure to family and friends among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) is necessary to ensure social and material support, which are important predictors of quality of life. We examined HIV/AIDS status disclosure and its influence on quality of life (QoL) among PLWHA in a Ghanaian population. This was a health facility-based cross-sectional study of 124 PLWHA accessing antiretroviral therapy at a hospital in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Data were collected using a pretested questionnaire adopting the WHO HIV-QOL BREF. The data were analysed descriptively and inferentially using STATA 15.0. Statistical significance was set at a p value<0.05 at a 95% confidence interval. Forty-two percent of the respondents disclosed their HIV status. Social support was available for 76.9% of those who had disclosed their status. The mean QoL was highest within the physical domain (14.3±2.9), while the psychological domain indicated the lowest quality of life (11.03±3.26). Approximately 47.6% attained the mean overall QoL score (73.18). Being a male predicted lower QoL in all domains than being a female. Being a Muslim, having tertiary education, and being an urban resident significantly predicted better QoL than being a Christian, having no formal education, and being a rural resident, respectively. Respondents’ age negatively predicted overall quality of life. Although disclosing one’s HIV/AIDS status positively predicted QoL, the difference was not statistically significant. A significantly poor quality of life among patients can drag efforts by Ghana towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of reducing the HIV/AIDS pandemic and its associated mortality. Stakeholders in AIDS prevention and management in Ghana should employ innovative methods such as peer support to encourage status disclosure and provide education on the provision of social and emotional support for PLWHA.
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)