PSYCHOSOCIAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV AIDS/

During the past decade, many investigations have examined the life cir cumstances of people living with HIV disease. Most of these studies, h owever, have focused on HIV-infected people in lar ge metropolitan are as. This study compares the psychosocial profiles of rural and urban p eople living with HIV disease. Anonymous, self-administered surveys we re completed by 276 people with HIV/AIDS in a Midwestern state. The as sessment instrument measured respondents' quality of life, perceptions of loneliness, social support, experiences with AIDS-related discrimi nation, access to services, and illness-related coping strategies. Com pared with their urban counterparts, rural people with HIV reported it significantly lower satisfaction with life, lower perceptions of soci al support from family members and friends, reduced access to medical and mental health care, elevated levels a loneliness, more community s tigma, heightened personal fear that their HIV serostatus would be lea rned by others, and more maladaptive coping strategies. Programs that are designed to improve the life circumstances of people with HIV dise ase in rural areas-particularly those that facilitate access to adequa te health care, increase perceptions of social support, and improve il lness-related coping-are urgently needed.