Abstract

TREJOS HERRERA, Ana María; MOSQUERA VASQUEZ, Mario  and  TUESCA MOLINA, Rafael. Children affected with HIV/AIDS: Quality of life, family function and social support in five Colombian cities. Salud, Barranquilla [online]. 2009, vol.25, n.1, pp.17-32. ISSN 0120-5552.

Objective: To describe quality of life, family functioning and social support for children under 18 years affected with HIV / AIDS and caregivers living in Cali, Buenaventura, Barranquilla, Santa Marta and Cartagena. Materials and methods: 286 personal surveys conducted in 11 children who knew their diagnosis of HIV seropositivity and, 275 to caregivers of children who did not know their HIV status of involvement in health institutions belonging to the State and private sectors. Instruments were used EuroQol (EQ-5D), Family APGAR and MOS Social Support. We performed descriptive analysis of data and tabulation in SPSS Version 15 in Spanish. Results: The reasons for delaying the delivery of diagnosis, reported by health professionals and caregivers of affected children [96.2% (n=275)] are related to avoid psychological or emotional harm to a child, fear of inadvertent disclosure to others leading to situations of stigma and lack of training regarding the procedure and age to deliver this information. The dimensions of quality of life indicated that children have pain/discomfort and anxiety/ depression, moderate/severe [15.4% (n=44), 9.8% (n=28)] respectively. Normal family function was found [73.8% (n=211)] and perception of social support maximum [74.1% (n=212)] in participants. Conclusions: The low rate of disclosure of HIV status to HIV / AIDS on children found in the study, indicating that it is a priority to develop an outreach clinical model in the health management process that encourages support for affected families.

Keywords : HIV serodiagnosis; quality of life and social support.

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