SSchool of Social Work, College of Health and Human Sciences, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, USA.
Department of Health Promotion and Behavior, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2019 Dec;6(6):1157-1166. doi: 10.1007/s40615-019-00617-5. Epub 2019 Jul 22.
African-American HIV-seropositive women are at elevated risk for depressive symptoms compared to their seropositive counterparts. Depressive symptoms have been linked to HIV/AIDS-related health predictors and outcomes such as medication and care adherence, and viral load. Project UPLIFT, a mindfulness-based cognitive therapy intervention originally designed for persons with epilepsy has been shown effective to reduce depressive and anxiety symptoms. Focus groups were conducted to assess the appropriateness and acceptability of UPLIFT for African-American HIV-seropositive women and to obtain feedback on needed modifications. The focus groups, including cisgender and transgender African-American HIV-seropositive women, revealed, while well received, modifications should include lowering the reading level of content and altering specific mindfulness-based exercises to make them relevant and acceptable to the target population. This qualitative work demonstrates UPLIFT could be a promising avenue to improve the mental health of African-American HIV-seropositive women, a group for which mindfulness interventions had not been previously considered. SIGNIFICANCE: Mindfulness-based interventions have been found effective in reducing depression, anxiety, and chronic pain. Further, it has been used for groups living with chronic illness, particularly HIV/AIDS. It has helped to improve mental and behavioral health, as well as increase CD4 count and reduce viral load for some samples of people living with HIV/AIDS. African-American women living with HIV/AIDS are especially vulnerable to poor mental and behavioral health given their experience of mental illness and hesitancy to engage mental healthcare. Though used for other groups of people living with HIV/AIDS, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy has not previously been considered for this population. This study explored the acceptability and feasibility of an MBCT intervention for this group. The data suggests that this intervention could be potentially useful in improving the mental health of this population, and includes suggestions for making the intervention culturally relevant.
与 HIV 血清阳性的同性别人群相比，非裔美国 HIV 血清阳性女性更容易出现抑郁症状。抑郁症状与 HIV/AIDS 相关的健康预测指标和结果有关，如药物和护理依从性以及病毒载量。Project UPLIFT 是一种基于正念的认知疗法干预措施，最初是为癫痫患者设计的，已被证明可以有效减轻抑郁和焦虑症状。进行焦点小组讨论是为了评估 UPLIFT 对非裔美国 HIV 血清阳性女性的适宜性和可接受性，并获得对所需修改的反馈。焦点小组包括顺性别和跨性别非裔美国 HIV 血清阳性女性，结果表明，虽然该方法得到了很好的接受，但应该修改的内容包括降低内容的阅读水平，并改变特定的正念练习，使其与目标人群相关和可接受。这项定性研究表明，UPLIFT 可能是改善非裔美国 HIV 血清阳性女性心理健康的一个有前途的途径，而正念干预措施以前并未被认为适用于这一群体。意义：基于正念的干预措施已被证明可以有效减轻抑郁、焦虑和慢性疼痛。此外，它已被用于患有慢性疾病的群体，特别是 HIV/AIDS。它有助于改善心理健康和行为健康，增加 CD4 计数，并降低某些 HIV/AIDS 患者的病毒载量。非裔美国女性感染 HIV 后，由于她们经历过精神疾病，并且对接受精神保健犹豫不决，因此特别容易出现心理健康和行为健康不良的情况。尽管正念认知疗法已被用于其他 HIV 感染者群体，但之前并未考虑将其用于这一人群。本研究探讨了这种基于正念的认知疗法干预措施对这一群体的可接受性和可行性。数据表明，这种干预措施有可能改善这一人群的心理健康，并提出了使干预措施具有文化相关性的建议。
