Center for Psychosocial Health Correlates of Vitality in HIV+ Adults: Perceived Social Support and Life Regard Yen Nguyen, Chwee-Lye Chng, Ph.D., Mark Vosvick, Ph.D., and Marissa Perales University of North Texas

Center for Psychosocial Health Correlates of Vitality in HIV+ Adults: Perceived Social Support and Life Regard 2 Introduction HIV/AIDS can be physically and psychologically debilitating, undermining coping skills, and draining vitality (Harmon et al., 2008). Higher levels of social support are associated with higher vitality in HIV populations (Winterling et al., 2007). Additionally, having meaning in life can contribute to vitality (Eller et al., 2007). Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) coping deficit theory suggests that how we appraise stress (via life regard) and how we use environmental resources (via social support) could influence how we manage HIV (via vitality). We hypothesized that HIV+ adults with higher levels of social support and life regard will correspondingly report higher levels of vitality.

Center for Psychosocial Health Correlates of Vitality in HIV+ Adults: Perceived Social Support and Life Regard 3 Model HIV - Vitality Social Support Life Regard This model represents the relationship between Vitality, Social Support and Life Regard. As Social Support and Life Regard increase, so does Vitality.

Center for Psychosocial Health Correlates of Vitality in HIV+ Adults: Perceived Social Support and Life Regard 4 Hypotheses Vitality will be positively correlated with Social Support. Vitality will be positively correlated with Life Regard. Social Support and Life Regard will account for a significant amount of variance in Vitality.

Center for Psychosocial Health Correlates of Vitality in HIV+ Adults: Perceived Social Support and Life Regard 5 Measures Used in Analyses Medical Outcomes Study – HIV (Wu, 1996)  Used Vitality subscale  Cronbach’s α = 0.78  Likert type scale with 6 items  Responses - 1 = Tired all of the time, 6 = None of the time  Ex. “Did you have enough energy to do the things you wanted to do?” Life Regard (Zimet et al., 1988)  α = 0.79 – 0.86  Likert type scale with 28 items  Responses - 1 = Do not Agree, 3 = Agree  Ex. “I really don’t have much of a purpose for living, even for myself.”

Center for Psychosocial Health Correlates of Vitality in HIV+ Adults: Perceived Social Support and Life Regard 6 Measures cont. Multidimensional of Perceived Social Support (Zimet et al., 1990)  α = 0.85 – 0.88  Likert type scale with 12 items  Subscales –  Family  Friends  Significant other  Responses - 1 = Very Strongly Disagree, 7 = Very strongly agree  “I can talk about my problems with my friends.”

Center for Psychosocial Health Correlates of Vitality in HIV+ Adults: Perceived Social Support and Life Regard 7 Methods  After receiving IRB approval, seropositive individuals from the Dallas/ Ft. Worth area were identified and recruited from the community.  They completed consent forms and were given a self-report, computer-generated survey created by the Questionnaire Development System (QDS) at the University of North Texas – Center for Psychosocial Health.  Using univariate, bivariate and regression statistical analyses we examined the relationships between perceived social support, life regard and vitality in HIV+ participants.  We multiplied scores for the Vitality scale by (-1) due to an inverse scoring difference in the data to provide a more accurate portrayal of our findings.

Center for Psychosocial Health Correlates of Vitality in HIV+ Adults: Perceived Social Support and Life Regard 8 Participant Demographics GenderNumberPercent Female3555.6% Ethnicity: African – American4368.3% European – American1828.5% Other 2 3.2% Mean (SD)Range Age47.83 (8.75)24-66

Center for Psychosocial Health Correlates of Vitality in HIV+ Adults: Perceived Social Support and Life Regard 9 Results VariableMeanActual RangePossible RangeCalc. α Vitality12.91 (4.57) 4 – 22 4 – Life Regard66.02 (12.13)43 – 8428 – Social Support56.57 (22.35)12 – 84 0 – Univariate Statistics

Center for Psychosocial Health Correlates of Vitality in HIV+ Adults: Perceived Social Support and Life Regard 10 Results cont Age-- 2. Gender Gay/Bisexual.10.83**-- 4. African - American.15.41**.55**-- 5. Vitality Social Support *.29*-- 7. Life Regard.03.25*.07.59**.25 Bivariate Statistics *p <.05, **p <.01

Center for Psychosocial Health Correlates of Vitality in HIV+ Adults: Perceived Social Support and Life Regard 11 Results cont. Regression Analyses PredictorsVitality βTVIFTolerance Age Gender Life Regard Social Support F (5, 57) = 9.33, Adjusted R² =.40, p <.05

Center for Psychosocial Health Correlates of Vitality in HIV+ Adults: Perceived Social Support and Life Regard 12 Discussion Our study found significant correlations between Vitality, Life Regard and Social Support supporting our hypotheses. Our findings are consistent with a previous study (Eller et al., 2007) in which participants who reported high levels of Life Regard and Social Support also reported strong levels of Vitality.

Center for Psychosocial Health Correlates of Vitality in HIV+ Adults: Perceived Social Support and Life Regard 13 Clinical Implications The majority of our sample reported use of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART), an effective combination of drugs that help to suppress viral levels of HIV. Moreover, HAART has adverse reactions that contribute to fatigue and other physical side effects that deplete energy levels in HIV+ adults (Tamarin et al., 2004). The loss of energy associated with HAART could hinder coping abilities. Individuals suffering from HIV/AIDS must obtain strong social support and develop a positive meaning in their lives to improve overall vitality.

Center for Psychosocial Health Correlates of Vitality in HIV+ Adults: Perceived Social Support and Life Regard 14 Future Research Future studies should focus on the fatigue caused by HAART medications and should include further development in coping strategies with HIV/AIDS by developing meaning in life and well constructed social support systems.

Center for Psychosocial Health Correlates of Vitality in HIV+ Adults: Perceived Social Support and Life Regard 15 Limitations The cross-sectional correlational design of this study limits the ability to draw causal inferences from our findings Possibility of bias with self – reported techniques used in the questionnaires Generalizability of our findings is limited since all participants were recruited from only one geographic are in the U.S.