Abstract #142  -  PLWHA Sexual Dissatisfaction: Results from the AIDES & toi survey
Authors:   Presenting Author:   Mr Pelletier Vincent - AIDES
Additional Authors:  Ms. Daniela  Rojas, Mr. Christian Andreo, Mr. Jean-Marie Le Gall, Ms.  Joanne Otis, Mr. Martin Blais, Mr. Bruno Spire,
Aim: The advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has clearly changed the quality of life of HIV-infected people. However, quality of life is a large concept which includes some aspects that still need improvement, like sexual satisfaction. The present work aims to evaluate sexual (dis)satisfaction and other factors such as loneliness, discrimination and stigma among the PLWHA catered for at AIDES, the largest HIV, French, community-based organization.
Method / Issue: A cross-sectional nation-wide survey, filled out by 2,434 respondents, was carried out in May 2007. During one week, a self-administered questionnaire was systematically offered to every person in contact with AIDES. The questionnaire includes standardized items concerning socio-demographics, health status and quality of life, sexuality, use of the organization and HIV stigma and disclosure. Statistical comparisons were made between groups using independent Student-t-tests and chi-square tests.
Results / Comments: 1098 respondents were HIV positive with a mean age of 43.7 years old. 35% were women, and MSM accounted for 39% of HIV positive people. Concerning satisfaction with sexual life, 38.6% of respondents reported being dissatisfied with their sexual life. No significant differences in this item were observed when MSM, heterosexual men and women were compared. Besides, sexual dissatisfaction was reported more often in those who were single (p<0.001), unemployed (p=0.015), who were victims of discrimination because of their HIV status in sexual settings (p<0.001), who reported a lower frequency of sexual intercourse during the last 4 weeks with occasional partners (p=0.004) and stable partners (p<0.001), who had no sex during the last month (p<0.001) and whose quality of life was the poorest (p<0.001). In fact, sexual dissatisfaction was significantly associated to the following items of anticipated stigma: “I take good care of who I disclose my HIV to”, “I am worried about the possibility that those who know my HIV positive status will disclose it to others” and the following items of real stigma: “I feel apart, isolated”, “Some people aware of my positive HIV status have become distant”, “Some people are afraid of being rejected because they are close to me”, “I have already lost some sexual partners because I disclosed my HIV positive status”, “Some people seem to be afraid of me because I am HIV positive”. The item “Some sexual partners have been distant towards me (because of my HIV)” almost reached signification.
Discussion: These results show poor sexual satisfaction among PLWHA. This low satisfaction seems to be related to not having a stable partner, to a low frequency of sexual intercourse with occasional and stable partners, but, above all, a strong association was found between sexual dissatisfaction and stigma-related variables. No significant results concerned the (non)use of condoms or the partner’s serology. PLWHA, despite HAART, still face serious difficulties in their sexual life related to stigma and discrimination. Global sexual health interventions targeted towards PLWHA are still needed.
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