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Background Regular physical activity and exercise have been shown to be of benefit in managing the HIV disease, its complications and the side effects of HAART. The perceptions of those living with HIV toward physical activity and exercises is a key factor in advocating for participation of rehabilitation personnel in the management of this disease. However, this domain remains underexplored in Zimbabwe. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted with 327 people living with HIV. Participants were consecutively sampled from Chitungwiza Central Hospital Opportunistic Clinic. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and the Exercise Benefits/Barriers Scale (EBBS) were respectively used to measure the physical activity level and perceived benefits/barriers of physical exercise among adults living with HIV. The tools were self-administered. The analyses were done for 323 participants using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Results The mean age was 41.1 ± 11.0. Females constituted 69.7% (n = 225) of the sample. The majority of participants (n = 184; 57%) described themselves as being highly physically active (3204;IQR = 2139–4441 MET-minutes/week). Most of the participants agreed that physical activity prevented heart attacks with a mean value of 3.34 ± 0.65. The majority perceived psychological outlook as the greatest benefit from physical activity among the benefit sub-scales. Furthermore, most of the participants agreed that it cost too much for them to exercise which had a mean of 3.00 ± 0.88. Family discouragement was the most agreed perceived barrier to physical activity with a mean of 2.91 ± 0.67. Those who perceived physical activity as being beneficial reported less barriers. A statistically significant association was found between level of physical activity and CD4 cell count (p = 0.035) as well as with employment status (p p p = 0.006). Conclusion Adults living with HIV receiving HAART at Chitungwiza Central Hospital are highly active when compared to other studies done in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is also important to create interventions that promote physical activity considering what this population considers as perceived benefits and barriers to physical activity.

Background Social support (SS) has been identified as an essential buffer to stressful life events. Consequently, there has been a surge in the evaluation of SS as a wellbeing indicator. The Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale (MSPSS) has evolved as one of the most extensively translated and validated social support outcome measures. Due to linguistic and cultural differences, there is need to test the psychometrics of the adapted versions. However, there is a paucity of systematic evidence of the psychometrics of adapted and translated versions of the MSPSS across settings. Objectives To understand the psychometric properties of the MSPSS for non-English speaking populations by conducting a systematic review of studies that examine the psychometric properties of non-English versions of the MSPSS. Methods We searched Africa-Wide Information, CINAHL, Medline and PsycINFO, for articles published in English on the translation and or validation of the MSPSS. Methodological quality and quality of psychometric properties of the retrieved translations were assessed using the COSMIN checklist and a validated quality assessment criterion, respectively. The two assessments were combined to produce the best level of evidence per language/translation. Results Seventy articles evaluating the MSPSS in 22 languages were retrieved. Most translations [16/22] were not rigorously translated (only solitary backward-forward translations were performed, reconciliation was poorly described, or were not pretested). There was poor evidence for structural validity, as confirmatory factor analysis was performed in only nine studies. Internal consistency was reported in all studies. Most attained a Cronbach’s alpha of at least 0.70 against a backdrop of fair methodological quality. There was poor evidence for construct validity. Conclusion There is limited evidence supporting the psychometric robustness of the translated versions of the MSPSS, and given the variability, the individual psychometrics of a translation must be considered prior to use. Responsiveness, measurement error and cut-off values should also be assessed to increase the clinical utility and psychometric robustness of the translated versions of the MSPSS. Trial registration PROSPERO-CRD42016052394.