Objective:

Measure the effectiveness of a self-care manual on how to manage HIV-AIDS symptoms by comparing frequency of symptoms, quality of life, and adherence and usefulness of the manual among people with the AIDS virus who used the self-care manual and those who used a manual on nutrition.

Materials and methods:

A quasi-experimental study was conducted with an experimental group (a self-care manual for the management of symptoms) and a control group (a nutrition manual). There were 51 participants. Measurements were taken at the start and after two months.

Results:

There were 16 symptoms at the start, which were the same for both groups. They declined after two months. A comparison between the groups showed the difference was not significant. The increase in the overall quality of life score was from 51 to 54 in the experimental group and from 54 to 56 in the control group. The greatest benefit was for the self-care manual, with 88%, compared to the nutrition manual, with 75%. The importance of designing educational materials to respond to the needs of people who are living with the AIDS virus is recognized.

Conclusion:

The self-care manual was considered to be useful by the majority of the participants in the experimental group.

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