Mental health in South African adolescents living with HIV

ABSTRACT

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescent health
• HIV
• mental health
• social support

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the patient participants and healthcare providers at Witkoppen Health and Welfare Centre.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Nora West http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8556-1744

Additional information

Funding

This research has been supported by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the terms of AID-674-A-12-00033. The contents are the sole responsibility of Witkoppen Health and Welfare Centre and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.