Coping strategies among patients attending HIV clinics in a North-central State of Nigeria.

Background: Nigeria ranks third among the countries with the highest HIV/AIDS burden in the world, next only to India and South Africa. The North-Central zone which Kwara State belongs to has the highest concentration of HIV prevalence rate of 7.5%, while the North-Western zone recorded the lowest prevalence of 2.1%; Kwara state has a prevalence rate of 2.2%.

Aims: The study assessed the coping strategies adopted by patients attending HIV clinics in a North-central city of Nigeria.

Methods: The study design was descriptive cross-sectional involving 384 HIV-positive patients who were systematically recruited at 5 public service delivery sites in Ilorin- a North-central city, Nigeria was used for the study. Coping strategies were measured using the Brief COPE scale. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 20.0. Level of significance was pre-determined at P value <0.05 at a confidence level of 95%.

Results: Female respondents constituted 222 (58.0%) while males were 162 (42.0%). Respondents experienced varying proportion of coping strategies of which Self-distraction 288 (75.0%), active coping 249 (64.8%), emotional support 228 (59.4%), among others were the major strategies adopted by respondents.

Conclusion: HIV is a chronic disease with heavy burden on both patients and health facility rendering services for the care of these patients. A good proportion of respondents interviewed adopted varying coping strategies. Sustained social and psychological support will improve further the coping strategies of living with HIV.