Social Acceptance for Patients Infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus in Kerman and Rafsanjan, Iran

Background Social acceptance in patients with HIV/AIDS is defined as the supports and aids offered by the community around them, which often leads to a better prognosis. If social acceptance is found significantly lower in HIV/AIDS-positive patients, proper planning can be designed to increase the knowledge, awareness and cultural level of society to promote patient acceptance. Objectives This research was designed to determine social acceptance in patients infected with HIV/AIDS, referred to the health center of Rafsanjan and the behavioral consultation center in Kerman, Iran, in 2013. Patients and Methods In this cross-sectional study, 130 HIV/AIDS-infected patients were enrolled. They filled in the Marlowe-Crowne social acceptance questionnaire and their answers were evaluated according to the questionnaire key. The scores were calculated with statistical t-test and analyzed by SPSS software version 16. Results Ninety (74.6%) patients were male and 33 (25.4%) were female. They were in the age range of 20-60 years old. Fifty four (41.5%) patients had moderate social acceptance and 76 (58.5%) had high social acceptance scores. Conclusions Among the variables including age, gender, education, occupation, residential area, marital status, family history of HIV/AIDS, family history of psychiatric disorders, and CD4 lymphocytes count, the relationship between gender, familial history of psychiatric disorders and CD4 lymphocytes count on one hand and the social acceptance on the other hand were significant (P value < 0.05). It means that males with a family history of psychological disorders and patients with high CD4 lymphocytes count level had less social acceptance than others.