Assessing psychological symptom networks related to HIV-positive duration among people living with HIV: a network analysis.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

This study aims to explore and visualize relationships among multiple psychological symptoms among people living with HIV (PLWH) with different HIV-positive durations and to compare centrality indices and densities of psychological symptom networks. We used subsets of data collected from five designated HIV/AIDS hospitals in China. Networks were constructed among 16 psychological symptoms. Centrality properties, including strength and closeness, were adopted to describe relationships among symptoms. The results showed that PLWH with longer HIV-positive durations had denser emotional networks, which indicated that they had more emotional neuroticism than their newly diagnosed counterparts. Sadness, self-abasement, and self-loathing were the most central psychological symptoms across different HIV-positive durations. Our study suggests the need to provide psychosocial support services targeting PLWH according to changing symptom severity and neuroticism trajectories. Interventions should focus on increasing empathy for PLWH and enhancing the ability to consider the situation from different perspectives to avoid the development of neuroticism in long-term survivors.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Zhu, Z; Guo, M; Dong, T; Han, S; Hu, Y; Wu, B

Published Date

  • June 2022

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 34 / 6

Start / End Page

  • 725 - 733

PubMed ID

  • 34043459

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1360-0451

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0954-0121

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1080/09540121.2021.1929815

Language

  • eng