Quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS: temporal, socio-demographic and perceived health relationship

OBJECTIVE: to analyze the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS and its relationship with sociodemographic variables, health satisfaction and time since diagnosis. METHOD: quantitative, cross-sectional study with a sample of 100 HIV positive people monitored in a specialized service in southeastern Brazil. Sociodemographic and health forms were applied, followed by the WHOQOL-HIV BREF, a short form instrument validated to evaluate the quality of life. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was performed. RESULTS: the perception of quality of life was intermediate in all quality of life domains. A relationship was identified between greater satisfaction with health and better quality of life, as well as statistically significant differences among the dimensions of quality of life according to gender, employment status, family income, personal income, religious beliefs and time since diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: the time since the diagnosis of HIV infection enables reconfigurations in the perception of quality of life, while spirituality and social relationships can assist in coping with living with this disease.