Compiling a Psychological Intervention Package for the Patients with Aids And Determining its Efficacy on Decreasing Reactive Psychological Damages of the Patients with AIDS

AIDS causes a lot of psychological and emotional damage to a person with AIDS. The present study was conducted to compile a psychological intervention package for the patients with AIDS and determine its efficacy on decreasing reactive psychological damages of the patients with AIDS.

The research method was mixed approach in sequential-exploratory type. In the first stage, 7 patients with AIDS were interviewed in order to compile the psychological intervention package in the qualitative part; then, the extracted concepts were given to 3 experienced experts to determine the degree of its validity. The intervention package was compiled in a framework including an integrative psychotherapy and four common factors (relation therapy, hoping and expecting therapy, raising awareness and regulating behavior). It had the quasi-experimental method in pretest, posttest and control group type in the quantitative part. The statistical population of the present study included the patients with AIDS in the city of Tehran in the autumn of 2019. 32 male and female patients with AIDS were selected through purposive sampling method and randomly accommodated into experimental and control group (n1=n2=16). The research instrument was the symptom checklist SCL90 which was administered in the pretest and posttest stages on the experimental and control groups. The compiled psychotherapy intervention was implemented during twelve weeks on the experimental group while the control group didn’t receive it. The data were analyzed via ANCOVA method by SPSS statistical software 23.

The findings showed that the therapeutic protocol has significant effect on decreasing reactive psychological damages such as aggression, obsessive compulsive disorder, sensitivity in interpersonal relationships and phobia signs.

Considering the results of the present study, it seems that the compiled therapeutic intervention can be profitable and effective in decreasing reactive psychological damages in the patients with AIDS.