The results showed that PLWH in this study experienced high levels of uncertainty. The results agreed with the level of uncertainty reported in other studies on chronic diseases.[17,24] However, mean uncertainty in the present study was some how higher than that reported in Mishel’s combined data for chronic diseases.[19] It can be due to our participants’ lower knowledge than that in western communities.
The results revealed that patients with HIV experienced a medium level of social support. This result agreed with that of a study performed on PLWH in Thailand. [25] Like in other eastern countries, in Iran, family members have a strong and close relationship with one another.
The present study showed a significant inverse correlation between social support and uncertainty (P = 0.01), as patients with higher perceived social support suffered less uncertainty. This result conformed to that of the previous studies on the correlation between uncertainty and social support. [14,16,18] Social support received through public networks, friends, or others makes patients better understand the meaning of events and may increase their ability to clarify uncertain events. [24] This result agreed with that of other studies and the theory of uncertainty in illness.