Emotional And Behavioural Disorders In HIV Seropositive Adolescents In Urban Uganda

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the emotional and behavioral problems of HIV sero-positive adolescents. Design: A cross-sectional descriptive study. Setting: A specialised HIV/ AIDS Health Care Centre, the Mildmay Centre, in Kampala, Uganda. Subjects: Eighty two HIV sero-positive adolescents were consecutively enrolled for the study. Results: Over half (55.6%) of the subjects were females. They were mostly (88.9%) under the age of 15 years, orphans (97.6%) and stayed with non-parental relatives (68.3%). Almost two thirds (60.9%) of them were in the HIV/ AIDS clinical disease stage III or IV and were not on ARVs drugs. Forty two (51.2%) of the subjects had significant psychological distress (SRQ-25 scores > 6) and 14 (17.1 %) had attempted suicide within the last 12 months. Their specific psychiatric disorders, made using ICD-10 criteria, were: Anxiety 45.6%, depression 40.8%, somatisation 18.0%, seizures 8.4%, mania 1.2% and HIV-associated progressive encephalopathy 4.8%. Conclusion: HIV/AIDS infection in adolescence was associated with considerable psychological problems and the presence of major psychiatric disorders. With the current increasing availability of effective antiretroviral therapy, many of these children are surviving into adolescence, thus calling for the development of adolescent friendly HIV medical and psychological support and treatment services in developing countries such as Uganda.

Cognitive behavioral therapy group intervention for HIV transmission risk behavior in perinatally infected adolescents

“…The low rate of alcohol use in this cohort is consistent with a study on emotional and behavioral disorders in HIV positive adolescents in urban Uganda that reported only 2 out of 82 participants who used alcohol [23]. Most other studies conducted have mainly focused on adolescents identified with alcohol or substance use disorders linking them to risky sexual activity and greater numbers of sexual partners [24,25].…”

Spirituality and Dignity of Thai Adolescents Living with HIV

“…Their life becomes characterized by challenges and restrictions which some may have encountered from birth (Balthip and Purnell 2014). Life restrictions may result in some adolescents living with HIV developing psychiatric disorders and attempting suicide (Musisi and Kinyanda 2009).…”

Psychological distress among Ugandan adolescents living with HIV: Examining stressors and the buffering role of general and religious coping strategies

“…In a cross-sectional study of 82 Ugandan ALHIV in care, 51% of the participants scored above the clinical threshold for psychological distress using the Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-25) (Musisi & Kinyanda, 2009). These findings are consistent with other study reports from SSA.…”

“…Globally, psychological distress among ALHIV has been associated with negative life events such as bereavement, daily hassles of managing demanding and complex ART regimens, HIV status disclosure or non-disclosure, uncertainty about life, poor physical health, stigma and discrimination, caregiver HIV status and mental well-being, and social support (Elkington et al, 2011;Musisi & Kinyanda, 2009;. However, significant uncertainty remains regarding the important predictors of psychological distress among ALHIV in SSA, as the bulk of the studies on psychological distress among ALHIV have been conducted in the United States (Mellins & Malee, 2013) where the majority of ALHIV are behaviourally infected, and yet the majority of ALHIV residing in SSA are perinatally infected.…”