Pustaka Ilmiah Universitas Padjadjaran

Abstrak

Improving Quality Of Life Of People Living With HIV Infection Through Strengthening Spiritual Aspect

The HIV/AIDS remains a major health problem among modern society though the incidence has shown a significant decrease in some parts of the world. The advance technology in Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) has dramatically lowered HIV-related morbidity and mortality. HIV/AIDS has changed from an acute fatality disease to a chronic manageable illness. Living with a chronic illness, people living with HIV infection (PLWH) are often deal with multiple hardships of life, such as physical impacts related to progression of the virus, stigma and discrimination, poor living condition, dependency on medication, and psychological and social and spiritual problems. As other chronically conditions, living with HIV infection require adequate coping and support to manage various problems that encountered by PLWH during their rest of lifetime. The complexities of living with HIV as a chronic illness also influence to the level of quality of life. There were growing literature explicating the quality of life of PLWH both qualitative and quantitative studies. Quality of life has become central issue to measure outcomes of health-related interventions, including nursing interventions. Thus, quality of life involves multidisiplinary term which in influenced by many factors, such as cultural, ethnic, and religious values. WHO (2004) defined quality of life as an individual’s perception of his/her position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which he/she lives, and in relation to his/her goals, expectations, standards, and concerns. Previous studies documented the relationships between religiousity and quality of life, since the religion could be as a source of coping to deal with particular life difficulties. Although there was a dispute regarding the similarity between religion and spirituality, generally understood that meaning of spirituality could be broader than religion. The linkage between spirituality and health has drawn significant attention among health researchers in attemp to improve quality of care. Taking into account of spirituality into nursing care is very relevant with the caring paradigm of holistic nursing. In the context of caring for PLWH, utilyzing spirituality is essential to achieve the goal of holistic and comprehensive nursing care. Strengthening spirituality is eventually expected to improve quality of life of PLWH.