Patients living with HIV who do not adhere to antiretroviral treatment (ART) have a high viral load, increasing the risk of developing AIDS, as well as new treatment-resistant strains. There are several psychological factors that must be studied to understand the reasons for non-adherence to ART. We studied whether the goals reported by patients with HIV, as well as their sense of meaning in life, influence ART adherence in a sample of adult patients attending HIV outpatient care in Mexico. Participants completed the Antiretroviral Treatment Adherence Assessment Questionnaire, the Dimensional Scale of Meaning in Life and were asked to write both short-term and long-term goals. The most frequent goals reported were those categorized as “personal development,” followed by “being healthy.” Participants with the highest adherence had more short-term “personal development” goals. Moreover, they showed the lowest levels of existential vacuum (lack of meaning in life). These variables predicted treatment adherence. We conclude that the design of programs to improve ART adherence should promote the establishment of personal development goals and offer tools that allow having a sense of meaning in life to reduce AIDS-related complications.

La Somnolencia Diurna Excesiva (SDE) es uno de los problemas de sueño más incapacitantes ya que se relaciona con déficits en la ejecución conductual, accidentes laborales y vehiculares. Se estima una prevalencia en la población general de entre 16% y 32%. El Functional Outcomes Sleep Questionnaire (FOSQ) es el cuestionario más utilizado para medir el impacto de la SDE en el estado funcional de pacientes con diferentes trastornos del dormir, el cual se ha validado en distintos países. Por lo tanto, el objetivo de este estudio fue adaptar culturalmente el FOSQ y obtener la confiabilidad, la validez de constructo y los coeficientes de congruencia factorial para la versión FOSQ-México. En una primera fase se tradujo el cuestionario utilizando el procedimiento metodológico estándar. También se hizo la adaptación cultural de los reactivos mediante la técnica de Redes Semánticas Naturales Modificadas en una muestra de 78 participantes. En una segunda fase, el cuestionario adaptado se aplicó a 152 participantes para determinar la discriminación entre reactivos, la consistencia interna, el análisis factorial con rotación ortogonal con un método de componentes principales y comprobar la congruencia factorial. Los resultados indicaron que los 30 reactivos del FOSQ se agruparon en seis factores que explican el 67.2% de la varianza total, con un coeficiente ? total de 0.94 y de 0.85 promedio para los factores. Se obtuvieron coeficientes de congruencia factorial de 0.360 a 0.969 entre la versión original y el FOSQ-México. Se demostró que la versión adaptada del FOSQ para habitantes de la Ciudad de México es confiable, válida y equivalente conceptualmente con la versión norteamericana.

Introduction. Empathy is defined as the ability or process to identify and understand other person’s situation, feelings, and motives. These responses are essential for relationships and social behavior. Baron-Cohen et al. created the Empathy Quotient (EQ), a scale explicitly designed to have a clinical application. The instrument evaluates three constructs of empathy and several studies around worldwide, but not in Mexico. Objective. To examine the psychometric properties and the factor congruence of the EQ in a community sample from Mexico City. Method. Cronbach´s alpha coefficient and a correspondence factorial analysis was performed to test the relation between response options and factors from the Exploratory Factor Analysis 200 adults without Axis I disorders through the MINI, filled out the Spanish version of the short version (28-items) of the EQ. An exploratory factor analysis was performed while reliability was tested with Cronbach’s alpha. In addition, correspondence factorial analysis and the factor congruence coefficient were determined. Results. Five items were eliminated from the original 28-item EQ. From the 23 remaining items, only 16 were grouped in the three original proposed dimensions (cognitive empathy: 8 items, emotional reactivity: 4 items and social skills: 3 items), while one item showed communality with a different domain from the one originally proposed. Reliability was adequate (.82) as well as the congruence coefficients (.76 to .99). Discussion and conclusion. The EQ Mexican 16-item version is a good tool to assess empathy in a Mexican population.

Background: Methamphetamine (MA) use in people living with HIV (PLWH) has been linked to neurocognitive and behavioral dysregulation. We hypothesized that PLWH with active MA use (MAHIV) would show poorer cognitive performance, greater emotional and sleep burden, higher behavioral risk, and alterations in circulating biomarkers of immune activation and neuronal injury, relative to PLWH without MA use and HIV-negative Controls. Methods: Cross-sectional analytic study of 121 adults: PLWH with MA use (MAHIV, n = 40), PLWH without use (n = 42), and HIV-negative Controls (n = 39). Outcomes were ART discontinuation, physical activity, neurocognition (MoCA), depression (BDI), anxiety (GAD-7), sleep (PSQI), and substance use (ASSIST). Circulating biomarkers measured by ELISA: sCD14, neuron-specific enolase (NSE), S100B, and neurofilament light chain (NfL). Results: MAHIV participants had more frequent ART discontinuation than PLWH and the lowest physical activity. Chemsex with polysubstance use, condomless sex, and multiple partners were most prevalent in MAHIV. This group showed the highest anxiety and depressive burdens, and the greatest sleep disturbances. Global cognition (MoCA) was lowest in MAHIV, with significant deficits in executive function, memory, attention, and language; 82.5% had at least mild cognitive impairment. sCD14 was significantly higher in MAHIV than in PLWH and Controls, and NSE was elevated in both MAHIV and PLWH versus Controls. sCD14 correlated inversely with MoCA and positively with GAD-7 and BDI-II. Conclusions: Among PLWH, MA use is associated with greater ART nonadherence, syndemic mental-health and sleep disturbances, broader neurocognitive deficits, and elevations in circulating sCD14 and NSE. The sCD14–cognition and sCD14–mood relationships highlight chronic immune activation as a candidate pathway for neurocognitive and affective impairment and support sCD14 and NSE as potential stratification and monitoring biomarkers in MA-using PLWH.

La adherencia al tratamiento antirretroviral (TAR) en quienes viven con VIH/SIDA es fundamental para el control de la enfermedad. La toma del medicamento se encuentra relacionada con diversos factores psicosociales y culturales que dan sentido y dirección a la realidad cotidiana. Es necesario reconocer y documentar las distintas formas de experimentar la vida en relación con la incorporación de un tratamiento médico de por vida indicado para un diagnóstico que aún encierra riesgos de ser socialmente estigmatizado. Este estudio tuvo como objetivo explorar la experiencia del uso del TAR en la vida cotidiana y las experiencias asociadas a la adherencia en personas que viven con VIH (PVVIH). El estudio fue descriptivo cualitativo, llevado a cabo en tres centros mexicanos de atención especializada. Se llevaron a cabo entrevistas a profundidad con 44 participantes, realizando análisis de contenido con el apoyo del programa Atlas.ti 9. Los hallazgos de este estudio permitieron reconocer experiencias que se consideraron por los y las participantes como barreras y motivaciones para la adherencia al TAR en relación con: el apoyo social y familiar, la salud mental y las formas de adaptación psicológica a la enfermedad, la información, los efectos y miedos relacionados con el progreso de la enfermedad y la medicación y los procesos de atención médico-paciente. Se discuten los hallazgos de este estudio con el fin de analizar y profundizar en las experiencias que podrían ser reconocidas y tomadas como base para el diseño de distintas estrategias de abordaje para la adherencia por parte del personal de salud.