Objectives. This study examined if compassionate love (CL) predicts HIV disease progression and transmission risk. Scientific study of CL emerged with Underwood's working model of other-centered CL, defining five criteria: free choice, cognitive understanding, valuing/empowering, openness/receptivity for spirituality, and response of the heart. Method. This 10-year cohort study collected 6-monthly interviews/essays on coping with HIV and trauma of 177 people with HIV in South Florida. Secondary qualitative content analysis on other-centered CL inductively added the component of CL towards self. Deductively, we coded the presence of the five criteria of CL and rated the benefit of CL for the recipient on a 6-point Likert scale. Growth-curve modeling (reduced to 4 years due to cohort effects) investigated if CL predicts CD4 slope (HIV disease progression) and cumulative viral load detection (transmission risk). Results. Valuing/empowering and cognitive understanding were the essential criteria for CL to confer long-term benefits. CL had a higher benefit for recipients if given out of free choice. High scores of CL towards self were reciprocal with receiving (93%) and giving (77%) other-centered CL. Conversely, those rated low on CL towards self were least likely to score high on receiving (38%) and giving (49%) other-centered CL. Growth-curve modeling showed that CL towards self predicted 4-year cumulative undetectable viral load (independent from sociocultural differences, substance use disorder, baseline CD4 and viral load). Those high versus low on CL self were 2.25 times more likely to have undetectable viral load at baseline and 1.49 times more likely to maintain undetectable viral load over time. CL towards self predicted CD4 preservation after controlling for differences in CL giving. Conclusions. CL towards self is potentially the seed of being expressive and receptive of CL. Health care professionals prepared to walk the extra mile for those who neglect and isolate themselves may break a vicious circle since those lacking CL self were least likely to receive CL from others. Future studies should examine whether any enhancement of CL towards self may translate into slower disease progression and reduction of transmission risk.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 24 December 2013.
All research outputs
#23,234,694
of 34,360,889 outputs
Outputs from Evidence-based Complementary & Alternative Medicine (eCAM)
#3,748
of 9,644 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#254,276
of 371,727 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Evidence-based Complementary & Alternative Medicine (eCAM)
#120
of 234 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,360,889 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 32nd percentile – i.e., 32% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 9,644 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 9.5. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 60% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 234 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 47th percentile – i.e., 47% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
