Family members of children exposed to Human Immunodeficiency Virus: satisfaction with social support

Abstract

Objective: to analyze the satisfaction of family members with the social support received during the care of children exposed to human immunodeficiency virus. Methods: cross-sectional study with 87 relatives of these children, in a university hospital. The Satisfaction with Social Support Scale was used. Sociodemographic and clinical variables were analyzed using the Lilliefors, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests. Results: the participants, mostly mothers, showed high satisfaction with the total social support (57 out of 75 points). The average indicated that the satisfaction was high for the support received from the family (80.46), followed by that provided by friendships (72.86) and intimacy (63.36) and low for social activities (55.65). The group classified with income up to R$879.00 presented less satisfaction with social support (average=50,83) if compared with the group of income superior to R$879.00 (average=58,78) (p=0,014). Conclusion: the satisfaction with the social support of the relatives is high and influenced by income.

Keywords

• infectious disease transmission
• vertical; hiv; social support; caregivers; child health.