Impact of Death Anxiety and Quality of Life of Asymptomatic Persons Living with HIV

HIV is a systemic disease caused by retrovirus and give rise to various physical and psychological ailments. The purpose of the present study was to find out the level of death anxiety and the quality of life among asymptomatic HIV positive cases (clinically diagnosed since one year period and their education was at least High School). 36 males and 36 females, asymptomatic HIV positive of the age range of 25 to 35 years served as the case group. Total sample consists of 144 selected from various Hospitals and Community Care Centers/NGOs of Varanasi. A control group belongs to 36 males and 36 females of the same age range and education were also included in the sample (who did not have any history of any psychiatric disorder or other intrinsic problems). Death Anxiety Scale (Thakur & Thakur, 1985) and WHOQOL-BREF (Saxena, 1996) were administered on the subjects individually. The findings revealed that death anxiety was positively associated among asymptomatic HIV positive patients; whereas quality of life was negatively associated among asymptomatic HIV positive patients. The results indicated that death anxiety was more prevalent in asymptomatic HIV positive patients than their control group. Asymptomatic HIV positive patients manifested poor quality of life as compared to their control group.