Coping strategies of people living with AIDS in face of the disease.
Rafael Tavares Silveira Silva, Richardson Augusto Rosendo da Silva, Iellen Dantas Campos Verdes Rodrigues and 3 others
PMID 29538581WHAT IT FOUND
People living with AIDS reported coping by reframing the illness positively, solving problems, and avoiding stressors more than confronting it.
Women, people who worked, had treatment support, or practiced religion reported higher coping scores. These are associations, not causes.
Key findings
01Participants reported emotion-focused coping as predominant, with greater reference to positive reappraisal (mean 1.86) and lower reference to confrontation (mean 0.80).
02Women and people who worked reported higher mean scores in all coping factors, with statistical significance for confrontation, withdrawal, self-control, responsibility acceptance, escape-avoidance, and positive reappraisal.
03People who never abandoned treatment had higher mean scores in all coping factors than those who had abandoned treatment, with significance in social support, responsibility acceptance, and escape-avoidance.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was done at one outpatient hospital in Northeast Brazil, so it may not apply to other settings or populations. Participants were recruited by convenience after clinic visits, not randomly, so they may not represent all people living with AIDS. The design was cross-sectional, so it can only show associations at one time, not cause and effect. Coping was measured by self-report with the Coping Strategies Inventory, so responses may be affected by current distress or interpretation. The study excluded people with neurological deficits, pregnant women, distressed people, and those undergoing post-exposure prophylaxis, so findings may not apply to them. Many comparisons were made across eight coping factors, and significance was set at p < 0.006 to reduce false positives.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the higher coping scores in women, people who worked, people with treatment support, or people who did not abandon treatment as proof that these factors cause better coping or adherence. This was a cross-sectional self-report survey with no intervention, and some coping modes such as escape-avoidance may also reflect avoidance rather than a helpful strategy.