Table 1. Background characteristics of participants (N = 322).
| Characteristic | n | % |
| Sociodemographics | ||
| Gender, male | 185 | 57.5 |
| Age a, median (IQR) years | 33 (30, 39) | |
| Current marital status, Married | 221 | 68.6 |
| Having any children, Yes | 220 | 68.3 |
| Education level b , c | ||
| No formal education | 58 | 18.6 |
| Primary (1–5 yrs.) | 68 | 21.8 |
| Lower secondary (6–10 yrs.) | 157 | 50.3 |
| Higher secondary and above (11+ yrs.) | 29 | 9.3 |
| Employment status d, Employed | 240 | 75.0 |
| Clinical and psychosocial characteristics | ||
| Time since first testing HIV+ e, median (IQR) months | 53 (25, 85) | |
| Currently on ART, Yes | 234 | 72.9 |
| Time on ARTf, median (IQR) months g | 24 (9, 39) | |
| Underweight (BMI<18.5) h, Yes | 29 | 9.2 |
| Any illicit drug use (last 6 months), Yes | 47 | 14.6 |
| Bothersome HIV symptom count, median (IQR) | 2 (0, 6) | |
| Internalized AIDS stigma score, median (IQR) | 4 (2, 6) | |
| Disclosure of HIV status to any family members i, Yes | 260 | 82.0 |
| Family support and mental health variables | ||
| Perceived family support | ||
| Low (Total score: 0–22) | 117 | 36.3 |
| Moderate (Total score: 23–26) | 113 | 35.1 |
| High (Total score: 27–30) | 92 | 28.6 |
| Depressive symptoms, Moderate to severe (BDI-Ia>20)j | 82 | 25.5 |
| Suicidal ideation (last 2 weeks), Yes | 45 | 14.0 |
| Ever thought about ending life since testing HIV+, Yes | 138 | 42.9 |
| Ever attempted suicide since testing HIV+, Yes | 54 | 16.8 |
IQR, interquartile range; ART, antiretroviral therapy; BMI, body mass index; BDI, Beck Depression Inventory.
Two individuals did not respond to this item.
Three individuals did not provide any information about their education level; seven individuals who reported some formal education did not indicate their years of schooling.
Education level categories were defined based on the structure of the Nepalese education system.
Two individuals did not respond to this item.
Five individuals did not respond to this item.
One individual did not respond to this item.
Median (IQR) was calculated for the 234 individuals on ART at the time of survey.
Six individuals did not respond to this item.
Five individuals did not respond to this item.
A score of 20 or more on the Beck Depression Inventory indicates moderate-to-severe depression with the need for mental health intervention, based on clinical validation of the scale in Nepal (sensitivity = 0.73, specificity = 0.91) [37].