A qualitative exploration of the role of antiretroviral therapy on Chinese rural life / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore factors influencing the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) and receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) in rural China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>In-depth interviews with 20 PLHA were conducted in March 1999. Participants were recruited from the USAID-funded Longitudinal Enhanced Evaluation of ART Project, which tracks a cohort of eligible PLHA receiving treatment at five collaborating treatment centers in Guangxi Autonomous Region, China. An interview guide (semi-structured with open-ended questions) was developed to provide a qualitative examination of the quality of life of PLHA.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Participants identified that ART affects physical health, including the experience of pain, side effects, and opportunistic infections. ART imposes lifestyle constraints such as reduced mobility due to drug procurement, and social restrictions due to the daily drug regimen. Participants discussed the psychological burden of taking drugs, and the fear of accidental transmission to others, or having their disease status known by others, as well as optimistic feelings about their future due to ART. ART poses a significant drain on individual's economic resources due to related medical costs, and inability to seek seasonal migrant labor due to reduced mobility.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>While China's national free ART program improved the physical health of those surveyed, their social and economic needs were left unaddressed. To improve life outcomes for PLHA, and by extension, the wider Chinese population, quality of life measures should be included when evaluating the success of the ART program.</p>

Reliability and validity of the Chinese version of MOS-HIV among HIV-infected individuals receiving HAART / 中国艾滋病性病

Objective To develop the Chinese version of the 35-item Medical Outcomes Study HIV Health Survey (MOS-HIV) and to assess the reliability and validity of MOS-HIV among HIV-infected individuals.Methods Between April and July of 2007,a croas-sectional survey of 758 HIV-infected individuals was conducted.Responses to the MOS- HIV were analyzed for its reliability and validity.Results Pearson's correlation coefficients of items for test-retest relia- bility ranged from 0.46-0.92,all internal consistency reliability coefficients exceeded 0.69,and all items were more strongly correlated with hypothesized scale than any other scale.Eight scales of MOS-HIV were significantly associated with CD_4 cell counts.Conclusions The Chinese version of MOS-HIV offers good reliability and validity and can be used as a tool to assess the quality of life of HIV infected individuals in China,thus providing evidence for further studying AIDS related quality of life in this country.

Evaluation of a pilot study on needle and syringe exchange program among injecting drug users in a community in Guangdong, China / 中华预防医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of needle and syringe exchange program among a community of injecting drug users (IDUs) on AIDS prevention.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A quasi-experiment design was used in a controlled community intervention study. Needle and syringe exchange program was implemented for 10 months in IDUs of an intervention community, including peer education and health education, provision of free needles and syringes, and collecting back of used needles and syringes by trained peer educators and local health workers, whereas no intervention measure in a control community was instituted. Interviews with IDUs were conducted before and after intervention with a snowballing strategy to evaluate its effectiveness.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A total of 428 and 429 IDUs were interviewed with structured questionnaire before and after intervention in intervention and control communities, respectively. Results revealed that awareness of HIV-related knowledge increased from 29.4% to 58.7% in the intervention community. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that awareness of HIV-related knowledge was higher in those who had read health education materials (OR = 2.93, 95% CI 2.12 - 4.04). As compared with the baseline data, frequency of sharing needles and syringes in past 30 days in the intervention community decreased from 48.9% to 20.4% in before intervention community (chi(2) = 41.02, P = 0.001), whereas there was no significant change in the control community. The causes of sharing needles and syringes in the intervention community included 'disable to get needle and syringe during the night', 'lack of needle and syringe when injecting at friend's home', 'not daring to buy needle and syringe for fear of being arrested' and 'no money to buy needle and syringe', declined markedly.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Needle and syringe exchange program was feasible and effective in reducing their risky drug injecting behavior among IDUs in communities. Such strategy should be adopted in the country to reduce rapid spread of HIV.</p>