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HIV-related shame and health-related quality of life among older, HIV-positive adults

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Abstract

This study investigated how HIV-related shame is associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in older people living with HIV (PLHIV). Structural equation modeling tested whether HIV-related shame was associated with three dimensions of HRQoL (physical, emotional, and social well-being) and whether there were significant indirect associations of HIV-related shame with the three HRQoL dimensions via depression and loneliness in a sample of 299 PLHIV ≥50 years old. Results showed that depression and loneliness were key mechanisms, with depression at least partially accounting for the association between HIV-related shame and both emotional and physical well-being, respectively, and loneliness accounting for the association between HIV-related shame and social well-being. HIV-related shame appears to be an important correlate of HRQoL in older PLHIV and may provide a promising leveraging point by which to improve HRQoL in older PLHIV.

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Funding

This study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (Grant Numbers R01MH067566, K01MH103080, and T32MH19105).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Wilson Vincent

  2. School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Xindi Fang

  3. Department of Psychology, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

    Sarah K. Calabrese

  4. College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Timothy G. Heckman & Nathan B. Hansen

  5. Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Kathleen J. Sikkema

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  1. Wilson Vincent
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  2. Xindi Fang
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  3. Sarah K. Calabrese
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  4. Timothy G. Heckman
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  5. Kathleen J. Sikkema
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  6. Nathan B. Hansen
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Correspondence to Wilson Vincent.

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Conflict of interest

Wilson Vincent, Xindi Fang, Sarah K. Calabrese, Timothy G. Heckman, Kathleen J. Sikkema, and Nathan B. Hansen declares that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and animal rights and Informed consent

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Vincent, W., Fang, X., Calabrese, S.K. et al. HIV-related shame and health-related quality of life among older, HIV-positive adults. J Behav Med 40, 434–444 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-016-9812-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-016-9812-0

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