Document 0241
 DOCN  M9550241
 TI    The Mental Adjustment to HIV scale: measurement and dimensions of
       response to AIDS/HIV disease.
 DT    9505
 AU    Ross MW; Hunter CE; Condon J; Collins P; Begley K; Center for Health
       Promotion Research and Development, School of; Public Health, University
       of Texas, Houston 77225.
 SO    AIDS Care. 1994;6(4):407-11. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE MED/95134776
 AB    Attitudes of people with HIV disease towards HIV have seldom been
       measured. However, a well-established scale to measure attitudes toward
       cancer in those with the disease, the 38-item Mental Adjustment to
       Cancer (MAC) scale was modified to assess adjustment to HIV disease. We
       administered the scale to 107 Australian men with HIV infection, of whom
       36 had an AIDS-defining condition, who were patients at an ambulatory
       care facility and in a research study. The data were factor analyzed
       using a method identical to that used in the development of the MAC
       scale to determine the latent dimensions of attitudes toward HIV/AIDS.
       The Mental Adjustment to HIV scale (MAH) factor analysis revealed five
       factors: Helplessness-Hopelessness, Fighting Spirit, and
       Denial-Avoidance as in the original MAC scale, plus a Fatalism subscale
       which also measured Preoccupation, and a new subscale, which measured
       Belief in Influencing the Course of the Disease. Together, these five
       factors accounted for half of the variance. These data suggest that
       while there are similarities between mental attitude to cancer and
       mental attitude to HIV in the latent dimensions of the questionnaire
       items, there are also some differences. Most significant is the belief
       in people with HIV disease in being able to personally influence the
       course of the illness, and the combination of Preoccupation with
       Fatalism. The five subscales of the MAH scale had Cronbach's alpha
       reliabilities between 0.80 and 0.55. The MAH appears to be a useful way
       to measure total attitudes and subscale scores of people with HIV
       infection, including AIDS, to their disease.
 DE    Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/DIAGNOSIS/*PSYCHOLOGY  *Adaptation,
       Psychological  Adult  Defense Mechanisms  Female  Human  HIV
       Infections/DIAGNOSIS/*PSYCHOLOGY  Internal-External Control  Male
       Middle Age  Patient Participation/PSYCHOLOGY  Personality
       Inventory/*STATISTICS & NUMER DATA  Psychometrics  Reproducibility of
       Results  *Sick Role  Support, Non-U.S. Gov't  JOURNAL ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).