Health Values and Spirituality in Veterans With HIV/AIDS

US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Spirituality; Quality of Life; HIV

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other U.S. Federal agency

Identifiers

NCT00057109

ECI 01-195

Details and patient eligibility

About

We have previously shown that: 1) time tradeoff utilities for current health are high, indicating that patients have a strong will to live; 2) half of patients felt that their life was better now than before they were HIV-infected; and 3) certain non-health-related factors such as spirituality and concern and love for one�s children correlated with health values and a sense that life has improved.

Full description

Background:

We have previously shown that: 1) time tradeoff utilities for current health are high, indicating that patients have a strong will to live; 2) half of patients felt that their life was better now than before they were HIV-infected; and 3) certain non-health-related factors such as spirituality and concern and love for one�s children correlated with health values and a sense that life has improved.

Objectives:

1. To assess health values of veterans and non-veterans with HIV/AIDS; 2) To characterize spirituality in patients with HIV/AIDS; 3) To derive a power function relating health ratings to utilities; and 4) To assess whether society assigns higher values to health states for veterans than for non-veterans.

Methods:

We interviewed 100 representative veterans with HIV/AIDS from the Cincinnati and Pittsburgh VAMCs and, concurrently, 350 non-veterans with HIV/AIDS from Cincinnati and Washington, DC, twice over 12-18 months. The patient questionnaire included clinical and demographic data; health values measures; a question comparing life now with life before being infected with HIV; and measures of health status/health concerns, HIV symptoms, depressive symptoms, spirituality/religion, adherence, social support, self-esteem, and optimism. We also assessed how medical house officers rate and value the health state of a hypothetical patient with congestive heart failure, identified either as a 72-year-old veteran or merely as a 72-year-old male.

Status:

Data collection completed ahead of schedule. Several manuscripts published with others to be submitted soon.

Enrollment: 100 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Adults with HIV/AIDS

Exclusion Criteria:

Trial design

100 participants in 1 patient group

Group 1