Analysis of resilience and sexual behavior in persons with HIV infection

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to evaluate ex post facto resilience in persons with HIV infection and its relationship to socio-demographic and sexual behavior variables. Participants included 159 persons with HIV infection, of both sexes, aged between 19 and 55 years. Fifty-one percent of patients were infected through homosexual means. Sixty-seven percent were in the asymptomatic phase of infection. Assessment instruments used were the following: a questionnaire on socio-demographic data and sexual behavior and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. The evaluation was individual, voluntary, and anonymous. The results showed that 49.05% of patients had average resilience, 27.68% had high resilience, and 23.37% had low resilience. They found that heterosexual patients infected with HIV, diagnosed between 1985 and 1990 (23 and 28 years of diagnosis) and those who had disclosed their HIV status to more than 30 people, had greater resilience than homosexual patients, diagnosed between 1996 and 2000 (13 and 17 years of diagnosis) and those who had disclosed their HIV status to 1–5 people. Finally, resilience was not a predictor of sexual risk factor. It is suggested that health interventions take into account the resilience and psychological variables that may be beneficial to improve coping with the disease.