Conceptualizing and Assessing Everyday Functioning in the Context of HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders

Curr Top Behav Neurosci. 2021:50:329-346. doi: 10.1007/7854_2018_78.

Abstract

Combination antiretroviral therapy has reduced the rates of severe HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND), but the prevalence of milder forms of HAND that can affect everyday functioning remains high. As HIV-infected adults approach near-normal life expectancies, they may become increasingly susceptible to declines in everyday functioning secondary to a variety of physical and mental factors, including HAND. Although impairments in everyday functioning are a hallmark of HAND diagnoses and can adversely influence quality of life, there are no gold standard measures of this fundamentally important and complex construct. This chapter provides a brief review of the various self-report, clinician-rated, and performance-based methods by which everyday functioning is measured in the setting of HIV disease, including global activities of daily living and specific domains of medication adherence, financial management, automobile driving, and vocational functioning.

Keywords: Activities of daily living; Everyday functioning; Functional living skills; HIV; Performance-based assessment; Self-assessment.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Activities of Daily Living*
  • Adult
  • HIV Infections* / complications
  • HIV Infections* / drug therapy
  • Humans
  • Neurocognitive Disorders / etiology
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Quality of Life