Psychological Effects of a Life Review Intervention for Persons With HIV Disease

✍ Scribed by Susan M. Vaughan; Richard T. Kinnier

• Publisher: American Counseling Association
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 614 KB
• Volume: 75
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1556-6678
• DOI: 10.1002/j.1556-6676.1996.tb02321.x

✦ Synopsis

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a life review intervention for persons with HIV disease. Twenty‐seven adults with HIV disease (16 had been diagnosed with AIDS) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: a group life review intervention (n = 8), a traditional support group (n = 9), or a waiting list (n = 10). Using a pre‐post design, participants were compared on psychological measures of optimism, self‐esteem, purpose in life, coping ability, psychological distress, and death anxiety. Although analyses revealed no significant differences between the interventions, statistical trends and participants' written evaluations favored the life review intervention. Attrition was a significant problem. Discussion focuses on the special problems encountered in conducting psychological intervention research with an HIV‐positive population.