Improving well-being through psycho-education among voluntary counseling and testing seekers in Nigeria: A controlled outcome study

Abstract

The present study evaluated the efficacy of an individualized psycho-education (PE) program in reducing psychological distress and risky sexual behavior and enhancing self-disclosure associated with an HIV diagnosis among attendees of a walk-in non-governmental voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) center in Nigeria. Ninety-four consecutive individuals were asked to complete a pre-counseling, baseline questionnaire detailing their sociodemographic characteristics, psychopathology, sexual practices, self-disclosure intention and coping behaviors. They were screened for HIV and post-test counseled. Sixty-seven individuals (72.2%) who tested positive were consecutively randomly assigned to one of two groups: a PE program (four 60-minute weekly manual driven sessions) (N=34) and a wait-list (WL) control group (N=33). The major outcome measures used were the Crown Crisp Experiential Index (CCEI), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) (Beck et al., (1961), self-report sexual practices in past three months, self-disclosure intention and the brief COPE. At four weeks post-intervention, significant reductions on all measures as well as reduction in risky sexual practices were observed in the treatment group compared with the wait-list group. Treatment group members were also significantly more likely to disclose their serostatus and accept their HIV status as a way of coping, compared with the wait-list group. Overall, support was found for the efficacy of a manual-driven PE program for self-disclosure, reduction of depression and improvement in safe sexual practices.

Effectiveness of Interventions Promoting HIV Serostatus Disclosure to Sexual Partners: A Systematic Review

“…Seven of those reported on an HIV disclosure-related intervention but they did not include disclosure to a sexual partner as their outcome. Rather, outcomes for these studies were disclosure intention [59] disclosure efficacy and anxiety [60], disclosure to children [61, 62] or disclosure to any adults in their social network [63-65]. The remaining three studies were excluded because they did not use an experimental or quasi experimental design [66-68].…”

Barriers and Facilitators of Adherence to Antiretroviral Drug Therapy and Retention in Care among Adult HIV-Positive Patients: A Qualitative Study from Ethiopia

“…Case managers at the clinics are also working to deliver emotional support and resolve patients’ problem based on their experiences living with HIV. Intervention studies reported that integration of dialogue and thinking about what needs to be done prior to disclosure, role-playing, and behavioral exercise were more effective than separate interventions in promoting disclosure [53], [54]. There appears to be a role for these types of interventions to enhance disclosure of HIV status and therefore aid in the achievement of optimal adherence and retention in care in Ethiopian patients taking ART as well.…”

A Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate the Relative Efficacy of Enhanced Versus Standard Voluntary Counseling and Testing on Promoting Condom Use among Men Who Have Sex with Men in China

“…Many international studies investigated different versions of VCT, but limited evidence-based studies were reported for the MSM population [26,49]. Some studies reported theory-based VCT services that effectively reduced the prevalence of sexual risk behaviors [50]. Many of these [17,[31][32][33][34].…”