Social support of people with HIV/AIDS: the Social Determinants of Health Model

ABSTRACT Objective: To analyze the social support of people with HIV/AIDS from the perspective of the Social Determinants of Health Model. Method: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in 2015 in an infectious disease outpatient clinic. The sample was made up of 116 people with HIV/AIDS. The data was collected through interviews, using a sociodemographic form and a social support scale. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, and Student’s t-tests and Mann-Whitney tests were performed to determine the association between social support and the social determinants of health. Results: Total social support was satisfactory, emotional support was influenced by smoking (p=0.0432) and instrumental support, by the number of people in the household (p=0.0003). The main source of instrumental and emotional support was relatives living outside the household, corresponding to 66.7% and 56.1%, respectively. Conclusion: It was found that smokers havelower emotional support and people living alone received less instrumental support.