A pre-post quasi-experimental study: effect of an educational intervention on the quality of life, and coping strategies of people living with HIV (PLHIV).

Introduction: The current study provides people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLHIV) the support to cope with this disease and to improve their quality of life, since their longevity has significantly increased.

Aim: Investigating the effect of an educational intervention on PLHIV's strategies to cope with HIV.

Methodology: Quasi-experimental, before-and-after study type, whose data were collected before and after educational intervention, was carried out with 75 PLHIV at a School Outpatient Clinic. The Brazilian version of the Ways of Coping Scale was herein used. It is a questionnaire comprising 4 disease-coping domains, namely: coping focused on problem, emotion and on seeking social support and religious practices.

Results: There was increased use of all coping-strategy domains after the educational intervention, as well as reduced standard deviation, and it pointed out that the recorded values were grouped closer to the mean therefore showing less variability. Coping focused on social support was the strategy mostly used after the educational intervention; it was followed by strategies focused on both emotion and problem. The least used strategy was the one focused on religion/fantasy.

Discussion: This study identified the need of introducing a new coping strategy focused on prejudice against patients with HIV.