Help-seeking patterns in HIV/AIDS outpatients

This study investigates factors associated with requests for professional services, made by newly registered HIV/AIDS Clinic outpatients, referred by general practice physicians to a large urban hospital serving a broad metropolitan/rural area in Canada. Professional service requests were divided into two primary help-seeking categories: practical support (assistance with financial aid, housing, medication costs, etc.) and emotional support (i.e., psychological counselling). Slightly more than half of the sample (51%) of people living with HIV/AIDS (PHA) requested professional services. Service requesters are indistinguishable from non-requesters on a large number of variables, including age, gender, family awareness of HIV/AIDS diagnosis, time elapsed since diagnosis, employment status, spousal status, overall support network size, physical health indicators (Karnofsky Performance Status, CD4 count, symptoms, opportunistic infections) and receipt of community support services elsewhere. Similarly, requesters and non-requesters report comparable levels of overall perceived social support and quality of life. However, requesters of practical support services report significantly fewer friends, lower emotional-informational social support and poorer quality of life due to body pain than non-requesters. Requesters of emotional support services report experiencing significantly lower positive social interaction compared to non-requesters. Implications for the provision of practical and emotional support services for PHA are discussed.