ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences have caused fear and anxiety worldwide and imposed a significant physical and psychological burden on people, especially women living with HIV (WLHIV). However, WLHIV were not studied as well as others during the pandemic. Hence, this study aimed to determine the relationships between COVID-19 phobia, health anxiety, and social relations in WLHIV. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study enrolled 300 WLHIV who had records at the Iranian Research Center for HIV/AIDS of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Data were collected using sociodemographic questionnaire, the fear of COVID-19 scale, the social relations questionnaire, the socioeconomic status scale and the health anxiety inventory. Path-analysis was used to assess the direct and indirct associations between variables. RESULTS: Based on the path analysis, among variables that had significant causal relationships with social relations, socioeconomic status (ß = -0.14) showed the greatest negative relationship, and health anxiety (ß = 0.11) had the strongest positive relationship on the direct path. On the indirect path, fear of COVID-19 (ß = 0.049) displayed the greatest positive relationship. The level of education (ß = 0.29) was the only variable showing a significant positive relationship with social relations on both direct and indirect paths. CONCLUSION: Our result showed that increased fear and health anxiety related to a higher social relations score in WLHIV. Hence, due to their vulnerability, these people require more support and education to adhere to health protocols in future pandemics and similar situations.
Subject(s)
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome , COVID-19 , Phobic Disorders , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/psychology , Anxiety/epidemiology , COVID-19/epidemiology , Cross-Sectional Studies , Depression/etiology , Female , Humans , Iran/epidemiology , PandemicsSubject(s)
COVID-19/epidemiology , HIV Infections/epidemiology , Pandemics , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/epidemiology , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/psychology , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/transmission , COVID-19/prevention & control , COVID-19/psychology , COVID-19/transmission , Communication , HIV Infections/prevention & control , HIV Infections/psychology , HIV Infections/transmission , Humans , Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional/prevention & control , Leadership , Loneliness , Neoplasms/radiotherapy , Occupational Exposure , Patient Isolation/psychology , Personal Protective EquipmentSubject(s)
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/epidemiology , Coronavirus Infections/epidemiology , Epidemics/prevention & control , Pneumonia, Viral/epidemiology , Pregnancy Complications, Infectious/epidemiology , Public Health Administration/trends , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/psychology , Betacoronavirus , COVID-19 , Coronavirus Infections/psychology , Female , Humans , Pandemics , Pneumonia, Viral/psychology , Pregnancy , Pregnancy Complications, Infectious/virology , SARS-CoV-2Subject(s)
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/prevention & control , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/psychology , COVID-19/prevention & control , COVID-19/psychology , Pandemics/prevention & control , Preventive Health Services/organization & administration , Preventive Health Services/statistics & numerical data , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/epidemiology , COVID-19/epidemiology , Humans , Models, Biopsychosocial , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
As with other countries globally, Rwanda has faced a recent outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) against a backdrop of an HIV epidemic. At present, there is no successful cure or vaccine for both COVID-19 and HIV. People with underlying conditions, including HIV, are at increased risk of severe COVID-19 manifestations. This underscores the need to enhance the knowledge, attitudes, and practice of people living with HIV (PLWH) to protect this population against COVID-19. An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from August 31 to September 18, 2020 among 376 participants who were selected by a simple random sampling technique. A pretested and structured self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Quality scores were calculated as a measure of the participants' knowledge, attitudes, and practice (KAP) levels. The student t-test was used to compare continuous variables between low (<65%) and high (≥65%) KAP scores. The chi-square test was used to determine the association between KAP scores and categorical variables. All decisions on statistical tests were concluded at 5% level of significance. All statistical analysis was performed using STATA statistical package version 11.2 (STATA Corp., Texas, USA). Of the 376 participants, 363 (97%) obtained a high knowledge score, while more than a quarter of the participants (26%) had a poor attitude score, and the majority (90%) having a high practice score. There was no association between gender, age, place of residence, employment, or duration on ART and knowledge score. Employment status and duration on antiretroviral treatment (ART) were significantly associated with attitude scores (p = 0.004 and p = 0.013, respectively). Gender and duration on ART were significantly associated with practice scores (p = 0.02 and p = 0.012, respectively). There was a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.57) between knowledge and attitude scores, and knowledge and practice scores (r = 0.55). There was a strong positive correlation (r = 0.67) between attitude scores and practice scores. Health education programs tailored for PLWH and aimed at mobilizing and improving COVID-19-related knowledge, attitude, and practice should be prioritized in the Rwandan COVID-19 response.