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Purpose in life and depressive symptoms in persons living with HIV disease
1University of Virginia School of Nursing, PO Box 800782, McLeod Hall, Charlottesville, VA 22908-0782, USA. del2a@virginia.edu
Purpose:
To examine relationships among purpose in life, HIV disease severity, demographic variables, and depressive symptoms in people living with HIV disease (PLWHIV). The hypothesis tested was that purpose in life is a stronger predictor of depressive symptoms than is HIV disease severity.
Design:
Descriptive, correlational study using a convenience sample of 123 PLWHIV recruited from an urban infectious disease clinic in a university teaching hospital in the Southeast United States.
Methods:
A self-administered questionnaire, including a sociodemographic tool, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and the Purpose in Life Scale (PIL), was used to collect data. Concurrent severity of HIV disease measures included HIV RNA viral load, CD4+ T-lymphocyte count, and the Revised HIV Medical Symptom Scale. Analytical methods included descriptive and inferential statistics and hierarchical regression analysis.
Findings:
Depressive symptoms were greater and purpose in life was lower than in normative samples. Purpose in life was a stronger predictor of depressive symptoms than was HIV disease severity.
Conclusions:
Purpose in life was more important than were laboratory markers of disease progression for predicting depressive co-morbidity. Results from this study indicate the need for routine assessment of depressive symptoms in PLWHIV. Purpose in life should be explored as a potential buffer for depressive symptoms.