In the antiretroviral era,
youth perinatally infected with HIV (PHIV+) are surviving into adulthood and
are at risk for emotional and behavioural problems. Few studies of these
problems have been conducted in low- and middle-income countries and even fewer
in sub-Saharan Africa.
The aims of this study were to provide a quantitative
description of emotional and behavioural problems in a group of PHIV+ youth
(n = 78) in South Africa compared with a group of demographically matched
HIV-negative controls (n = 30) and to identify correlates of emotional and
behavioural problems. A cross-sectional study was conducted employing
participants from community and hospital-based clinics. Emotional and
behavioural problems were assessed using the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL).
Several measures were used to assess demographic, biological, cognitive and
contextual correlates of problem behaviours. Youth were compared by HIV status
on demographic, cognitive and contextual variables as well as the Total
Problems and subscale scores of the CBCL. Multivariate comparisons of the
influence of contextual and cognitive variables on CBCL Total Problems scores
were performed using a stepwise linear regression analytic procedure. In this
study, there were no significant differences in between-group comparisons for
the prevalence of Internalizing,
Externalizing and Total Problems in the PHIV+
youth and control group at the clinical and borderline cut-off ranges of the
CBCL. Caregiver depression was the only significant predictor of greater Total
Problems scores in the full model, after controlling for age and gender
(F = 8.57, df = 5.102, P < .01). An interaction between HIV status and
caregiver depression was observed (t = -2.20, P = .03), with follow-up
within-group analyses confirming that caregiver depression predicted greater
Total Problems scores both in HIV-negative youth (β = 0.61, P < .001), and
to a lesser extent, in HIV-positive youth (β = 0.25, P < .001).
This study highlights
the need for adequate screening of depression in the caregivers of HIV-infected
youth.
Purchase full article at: http://goo.gl/BQRpIQ
By: Louw KA1, Ipser J1, Phillips N1, Hoare J1.
1a Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health ,
University of Cape Town , Cape Town , South Africa.
More at: https://twitter.com/hiv insight
No comments:
Post a Comment