Cumulative Psychosocial Risk is a Salient Predictor of Depressive Symptoms among Vertically HIV-Infected and HIV-Affected Adolescents at the Kenyan Coast.
Abubakar A., Van de Vijver FJR., Hassan AS., Fischer R., Nyongesa MK., Kabunda B., Berkley JA., Stein A., Newton CR.
BACKGROUND: Little is known of mental health outcomes among vertically HIV-infected or HIV-affected adolescents in Africa. OBJECTIVES: The current study set out to describe depressive symptoms and their correlates among vertically HIV-infected and HIV-affected adolescents at the Kenyan Coast. METHODS: 130 adolescents (vertically HIV-infected [n = 44], HIV-affected [n = 53], and unexposed [n = 33]) and their caregivers participated in this cross-sectional study. An adapted version of the Beck Depression Inventory-11 (BDI) was administered to examine depressive symptoms in both adolescents and caregivers, together with measures of sociodemographic, medical, and anthropometric characteristics. FINDINGS: Our analysis indicated a main effect of HIV status on mean BDI scores in HIV-infected (18.4 [SD = 8.3) and HIV-affected (16.8 [SD = 7.3]) adolescents compared to the community controls (12.0 [SD = 7.9]), F (2, 127) = 6.704, P = .002, η2 = .095. Post hoc analysis showed that BDI scores of HIV-infected adolescents were higher than those of community controls (P