Coping strategies of people living with AIDS in face of the disease

OBJECTIVE: to identify the coping strategies of people living with aids to face the disease and analyze them according to sociodemographic, clinical and lifestyle variables. METHOD: this is a cross-sectional quantitative study. The sample consisted of 331 people living with aids treated at an outpatient clinic at a referral hospital for treatment of aids. The Coping Strategies Inventory was used to collect the data. RESULTS: emotion-focused coping modes were more frequently mentioned. The mean scores of women, workers, religious people, and people who never withdrew from the treatment were higher for all factors. Patients who had a partner, who lived with family members and who received treatment support, had higher mean scores in coping, withdrawal and social support factors. As for leisure and the practice of physical exercises, the emotion-focused modes also predominated. A correlation was identified between treatment time, schooling, family income and the factors of the Coping Strategies Inventory of. CONCLUSION: the study showed that the most frequent coping modes were those focused on emotion.