WHOQOL-HIV for quality of life assessment among people living with HIV and AIDS: results from the field test

Assessment of quality of life (QoL) in persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) is becoming crucial to research and evidence-based practice in this area. This paper describes the analysis of the WHOQOL HIV field test instrument, which was given to 1,334 PLWHA from seven culturally diverse centres ( Australia, Brazil, Italy, Thailand, Ukraine and two centres in India: Bangalore and New Delhi). The instrument demonstrates good psychometric properties ( a values for domains between 0.70 and 0.90) and good discriminant validity, with poorest QoL found for those who reported that they were least well. Men reported poorer physical well-being ( F = 13.1, p < 0.001) and level of independence (F = 16.1, p < 0.001), while women reported poorer environment (F = 25.8, p < 0.001), social support (F = 11.3, p < 0.001) and spirituality (F = 7.5, p < 0.01). Older people (>34 years) demonstrated poorer QoL on physical (F = 20.6, p < 0.001) and levels of independence (F = 18.3, p < 0.001), while younger people showed poorer environmental (F = 34.6, p < 0.001) and spiritual (F = 23.5, p < 0.001) domains of well-being. The instrument provides a promising means for QoL assessment for HIV/AIDS in diverse cultural settings.