Mental health in South African adolescents living with HIV

Bibliographic Data

ID19442113
AuthorsNora S West (0000-0001-8556-1744, Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA, corresponding author), Sheree Schwartz (0000-0001-6090-2880, Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA), Mutsa Mudavanhu (Witkoppen Health and Welfare Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa), Colleen F Hanrahan (0000-0002-4544-4591, Johns Hopkins University), Colleen Hanrahan (Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA), Holly France (Witkoppen Health and Welfare Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa), Jeremy Nel (Helen Joseph Hospital), Lillian Mutunga (0000-0001-8184-3701, Witkoppen Health and Welfare Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa), Shelley Bernhardt (Witkoppen Health and Welfare Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa), Jean Bassett (0000-0002-3635-9037, Witkoppen Health and Welfare Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa), Annelies Van Rie (0000-0001-7666-3263, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium)
Year2019
Volume31
Issue1
Pages117-124
Publication date2019-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAIDS Care (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0954-0121 • E-ISSN: 1360-0451
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09540121.2018.1533222
PMID30304947
OpenAlexW2896688287
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited36

We examined the prevalence of mental health conditions, social support, and associated factors among adolescents living with HIV. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis with adolescents (ages 9-19) attending a primary care clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa. We analyzed the results of four self-report tools: Children's Depression Inventory-Short, Revised Manifest Anxiety Scale, Child Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist, and a modified version of the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Scale. We used robust Poisson regression to quantify the association between social support and mental health. Among 278 adolescents, the majority were perinatally infected with HIV (92%), and had at least one deceased parent (59%). Depression symptom threshold scores were found among 8% of adolescents, and 7% screened positive for symptoms of anxiety. Few (1%) met the criteria for PTSD. Overall, 12% of adolescents screened positive for symptoms of depression, anxiety or PTSD. Older adolescents reported less social support than younger adolescents. Adolescents were less likely to have mental health symptoms if they had higher measures of social support (adjusted Prevalence Ratio 0.38, 95% CI 0.20-0.73). Attention should be paid to social support for adolescents living with HIV as this may play an important role in their mental health

Environmental health · Mental health · Psychiatry · Adolescent and Pediatric Healthcare · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions · Medicine · Psychology · Virology