Exercise Therapy With Telerehabilitation in Patients Living With HIV

Investigation of the Effectiveness of Biopsychosocial Exercise Therapy Approach With Telerehabilitation in Patients Living With HIV

To investigate the effectiveness of the Biopsychosocial Exercise Therapy Approach (BETY) approach with the Telerehabilitation in patients living with HIV (PLWH).

55 individuals living with HIV (PLWH) were included in the study. Among those individuals, 25 individuals who volunteer to exercise with telerehabilitation will be grouped in the telerehabilitation group. The rest of the individuals who do not participate in the exercise group will be in the control group. Group 1: Telerehabilitation group: Individuals in the telerehabilitation group attend sessions that last for one and a half hours, 3 days a week for 12 weeks, in the company of an investigator over the videoconference through zoom. The investigator, who provides supervision during the sessions, also participates in the exercises simultaneously. Group 2: Control group: Individuals in the control group continue their routine drugs. Both the telerehabilitation exercise group and the control group continue their drug treatments during the 12 weeks of the period.

The Telerehabilitation program includes a Biopsychosocial Exercise Therapy (BETY) approach. BETY approach includes patient education on pain, functional body stabilization exercises (mind-body information management), dance therapy authentic movement (emotion-state information management), and sexual information management.

The control group participants include those who do not want to receive exercise treatment with telerehabilitation and take their routine medications during the 12 weeks period.

The Telerehabilitation program includes a Biopsychosocial Exercise Therapy (BETY) approach. BETY approach includes patient education on pain, functional body stabilization exercises (mind-body information management), dance therapy authentic movement (emotion-state information management), and sexual information management. Telerehabilitation group participate in the sessions that last for one and a half hours, 3 days a week for 12 weeks, video conference over the Zoom program. The investigator, who provides supervision during the sessions, also participates in the exercises simultaneously.

The control group participants include those who do not want to receive exercise treatment with telerehabilitation and take their routine medications during the 12 weeks period.

The Biopsychosocial Exercise Therapy Questionnaire (BETY-BQ), consists of 30 questions. Each of the items on the scale is scored between 0-and 4 in accordance with the Likert system. A higher score indicates a poor biopsychosocial status (4: Yes always, 3: Yes often, 2: Yes sometimes, 1: Yes rarely, 0: No, never).

The Short Form-36 (SF-36) scale, is the most commonly used quality of life scale that evaluate physical and mental health. İt consists of 8 subscales. These subscales, physical function, physical orientation role restriction, pain, general health, vitalization, social function, emotional role restrictiveness, and mental health. Points range from 0-to 100 and the best health status of 100 points shows the worst health status of 0 points.

The HADS is a self-rating scale. It contains two subscales measuring symptoms of depression (HADS-D) and anxiety (HADS-A) during the previous week. It includes seven statements on each disorder, and each response consists of a four-point rating scale (0 to 3); a higher score depicts a worse condition. For each subscale, the total score is at most 21. A score of ≥11 is considered a clinically significant disorder, whereas a score between 8 and 10 suggests a mild disorder.

The FRAIL scale is a clinical frailty screening tool. It consists of five components: Fatigue, resistance, ambulation, illness, and loss of weight (score range 0-5), and evaluates the status and severity of frailty. The presence of ≥3 components in a participants is considered frailty, while the presence of more components indicates more serious vulnerability.

The Clinical Frailty Scale is an inclusive 9-point scale to summarize the overall level of fitness or frailty of participants. The scale can be easily applied to the participants. İt is based on a subjective clinical assessment categorized by the investigators. A clinical fragile scale score greater than four is to be fragility and clinical indicator. Higher scores mean greater risk.

Inclusion Criteria: Patients living with HIV (PLWH), Ages between 18 and 65 years old, Participants attend and follow instructions through telerehabilitation. Exclusion Criteria: Participants who use recreational drugs Participants who do not adapt to the exercises through telerehabilitation, Participants who did not agree to be volunteers are not included in our study.