Health Care Behaviors among HIV/AIDS Cases Receiving Antiretroviral Therapy at a Community Hospital in Nakhon-Si-Thammarat Province

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess health behaviors among people living HIV infected/AIDS under antiretroviral therapy (ART). The samples were 139 HIV/AIDS cases receiving antiretroviral therapy at a community hospital in Nakhon Si Thamarat Province during June to November 2017. The study tool was a set of questionnaire constructed by the researchers and was retested for reliability using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient with a score of 0.82. Descriptive statistics were used for analysis including frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation; and the statistical analysis was performed with Spearman rank correlation coefficient. It was found that 81% of the HIV/AIDS samples had moderate level of health behaviors (with a mean score of 3.26, SD=0.38). When individual 6 health behaviors were analyzed, it was found that (1) 69.2% of cases had moderate level of food consumption (mean=3.40, SD=0.47), (2) 71.8% had moderate exercise activity (mean=2.65, SD=0.74), (3) 90.3% with moderate emotional management and relaxation (mean=2.97, SD=0.57), (4) 59.0% with good personal hygiene (mean=3.71, SD=0.52), (5) 53.0% with inappropriate behavior with regard to narcotic drug use (mean=2.33, SD=0.75), and (6) 90.6% had appropriate level of responsibility (mean=4.46, SD=0.99). There was no significant association between level of CD 4 count and the overall 6 health care behaviors.