RESUMEN
Long-term HIV/AIDS survivors responded online concerning their experiences during the AIDS and COVID pandemics. Recruited from web-based organizations for AIDS survivors, 147 answered questions on: frequency of experiencing stigma, isolation, aloneness, or grief/sadness; pet ownership; and sources of human support during each pandemic. Conditional inference trees were run to identify relevant demographic factors. Post-hoc comparisons were conducted to compare dog owners and cat owners. AIDS survivors reported more frequent feelings of stigma, aloneness, and sadness/grief during the AIDS pandemic than during COVID. Cat owners' sadness/grief during AIDS was greater than non-owners. During COVID, older respondents unexpectedly were less often sad/grieving than younger ones; dog owners less often felt alone and isolated than non-dog owners. Support during the AIDS pandemic retrospectively was rated better for older respondents; young gays' support was greater than young straights. During COVID, support was better for men than women. Contrastingly, women with pets felt less support than those without; men with dogs felt more support than those without. Cat owners more often felt isolated and unsupported during COVID than dog owners. Few dog or cat owners received support from family members in either pandemic; during AIDS, family support was better for owners of dogs than cats.
RESUMEN
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depressive symptoms have been associated with poorer health-related quality of life in adolescents after general traumatic injuries; few studies have examined the broader construct of postinjury quality of life (QOL). We evaluated the impact of traumatic injury on adolescent QOL and examined factors that potentially contribute to poorer outcomes, using the Youth Quality of Life Instrument-Research Version as the outcome measure. Data were collected within 30 days postinjury and 2, 5, and 12 months postinjury. Mixed-model regression (MMR) was used for the main analyses. Participants (N = 204) were drawn from a prospective cohort study of 12-18-year-olds admitted to a Level 1 trauma center (n = 108) and healthy participants from a local cross-sectional study (n = 116); study group participants were significantly older. The initial MMR indicated that female adolescents had significantly lower QOL, B = -2.69, 95% CI [-4.68, -0.70], and were more likely to score above the cutoffs for PTSD (19.1% vs. 2.0%), χ2 (1, N = 381) = 34.6, p < .001, or depression (32.8% vs. 14.0%), χ2 (1, N = 381) = 18.7, p < .001, on post hoc analyses. Adolescents with mental health conditions in the year postinjury had significant QOL deficits without predicted improvements toward baseline, PTSD: B = -10.05, 95% CI [-15.29, -4.81]; depression: B = -18.00, 95% CI [-21.69, -14.31]. These findings highlight the importance of ongoing mental health monitoring and care for adolescents, particularly female adolescents, following traumatic injury even when physical recovery appears complete.
