Doku P N, Minnis H
Department of Psychology,University of Ghana,Box LG 84, Legon, Accra,Ghana.
University of Glasgow, Institute of Mental Health and Wellbeing,Glasgow G12 0XH,UK.
Psychol Med. 2016 Aug;46(11):2329-36. doi: 10.1017/S0033291716000829. Epub 2016 Jun 7.
There is little knowledge about the psychosocial distress of children affected by human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) in Ghana, to aid the planning of services. This study investigated mental health problems among children affected by HIV/AIDS, compared with control groups of children orphaned by other causes, and non-orphans.
The study employed a cross-sectional survey that interviewed 291 children and their caregivers. Both children and caregivers completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire that measured children's psychosocial wellbeing. Verbal autopsy was used to identify whether children lost one or both parents from AIDS.
The results indicated that controlling for relevant sociodemographic factors, both children's self-reports and caregivers' reports indicate that both children living with HIV/AIDS-infected caregivers and children orphaned by AIDS were at heightened risk for mental health problems than both children orphaned by other causes and non-orphans. The findings further indicated that a significant proportion of orphaned and vulnerable children exhibited symptoms for depression and other psychiatric disorders (approximately 63%) compared with 7% among the non-orphaned group. Caregivers gave higher ratings for children on externalizing problems and lower on internalizing problems, and vice versa when the children's self-reports were analysed.
The findings suggest that both children and their informants have diverse yet complementary perspectives on psychological outcomes. The study discusses the theoretical and practical implications of these findings and urgently calls for necessary intervention programmes that target all children affected by HIV/AIDS to effectively alleviate psychological distress and enhance the mental health of these children.
在加纳，对于受人类免疫缺陷病毒感染和获得性免疫缺陷综合征（艾滋病毒/艾滋病）影响的儿童的心理社会困扰了解甚少，这不利于服务规划。本研究调查了受艾滋病毒/艾滋病影响儿童的心理健康问题，并与因其他原因成为孤儿的儿童对照组以及非孤儿儿童进行了比较。
该研究采用横断面调查，对291名儿童及其照料者进行了访谈。儿童和照料者均完成了用于测量儿童心理社会幸福感的优势与困难问卷。通过口头尸检来确定儿童是否因艾滋病失去了一位或双亲。
结果表明，在控制了相关社会人口学因素后，儿童的自我报告和照料者的报告均显示，与因其他原因成为孤儿的儿童和非孤儿儿童相比，与感染艾滋病毒/艾滋病的照料者生活在一起的儿童以及因艾滋病成为孤儿的儿童出现心理健康问题的风险更高。研究结果还表明，相当一部分孤儿和弱势儿童表现出抑郁和其他精神障碍的症状（约63%），而非孤儿组的这一比例为7%。在分析儿童的自我报告时，照料者对儿童外化问题的评分较高，对内化问题的评分较低，反之亦然。
研究结果表明，儿童及其报告者对心理结果有着多样但互补的观点。本研究讨论了这些结果的理论和实际意义，并迫切呼吁针对所有受艾滋病毒/艾滋病影响的儿童制定必要的干预计划，以有效减轻心理困扰，增强这些儿童的心理健康。
