IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v68y2009i6p1038-1043.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Peer-group support intervention improves the psychosocial well-being of AIDS orphans: Cluster randomized trial

Author

Listed:
  • Kumakech, Edward
  • Cantor-Graae, Elizabeth
  • Maling, Samuel
  • Bajunirwe, Francis

Abstract

Accumulating evidence suggests that AIDS orphanhood status is accompanied by increased levels of psychological distress such as anxiety, depression, intense guilt, shame, and anger. However, few studies have examined the possible reduction of psychological distress in AIDS orphans through the help of interventions that promote well-being. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of a school-based peer-group support intervention combined with periodic somatic health assessments and treatment on the psychosocial well-being of AIDS orphans in the Mbarara District of southwestern Uganda. In a cluster randomized controlled design, 326 AIDS orphans aged 10-15 years were assigned to either peer-group support intervention combined with monthly somatic healthcare (n = 159) or control group (n = 167) for follow-up assessment. Baseline and 10 week follow-up psychological assessments were conducted in both groups using self-administered Beck Youth Inventories. Complete data were available for 298 orphans. After adjusting for baseline scores, follow-up scores for the intervention group in comparison with controls showed significant improvement in depression, anger, and anxiety but not for self-concept. This study demonstrated that peer-group support intervention decreased psychological distress, particularly symptoms of depression, anxiety and anger. Thus, the use of peer-group support interventions should be incorporated into existing school health programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Kumakech, Edward & Cantor-Graae, Elizabeth & Maling, Samuel & Bajunirwe, Francis, 2009. "Peer-group support intervention improves the psychosocial well-being of AIDS orphans: Cluster randomized trial," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1038-1043, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:68:y:2009:i:6:p:1038-1043
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(08)00567-4
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Atwine, Benjamin & Cantor-Graae, Elizabeth & Bajunirwe, Francis, 2005. "Psychological distress among AIDS orphans in rural Uganda," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 555-564, August.
    2. Deininger, Klaus & Garcia, Marito & Subbarao, K., 2003. "AIDS-Induced Orphanhood as a Systemic Shock: Magnitude, Impact, and Program Interventions in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 1201-1220, July.
    3. Oleke, Christopher & Blystad, Astrid & Rekdal, Ole Bjørn, 2005. ""When the obvious brother is not there": Political and cultural contexts of the orphan challenge in northern Uganda," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(12), pages 2628-2638, December.
    4. Power, C. & Stansfeld, S. A. & Matthews, S. & Manor, O. & Hope, S., 2002. "Childhood and adulthood risk factors for socio-economic differentials in psychological distress: evidence from the 1958 British birth cohort," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(11), pages 1989-2004, December.
    5. Nyamukapa, C.A. & Gregson, S. & Lopman, B. & Saito, S. & Watts, H.J. & Monasch, R. & Jukes, M.C.H., 2008. "HIV-associated orphanhood and children's psychosocial distress: Theoretical framework tested with data from Zimbabwe," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(1), pages 133-141.
    6. Lee, S.-J. & Detels, R. & Rotheram-Borus, M.J. & Duan, N., 2007. "The effect of social support on mental and behavioral outcomes among adolescents with parents with HIV/AIDS," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(10), pages 1820-1826.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Katsonga-Phiri, Tiamo & Lewis, Jarrett T. & Murray, Maxwell & DuBois, David L. & Grant, Kathryn E., 2021. "Mental health interventions for African children: A meta-analytic review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    2. Yanagisawa, Satoko & Poudel, Krishna C. & Jimba, Masamine, 2010. "Sibling caregiving among children orphaned by AIDS: Synthesis of recent studies for policy implications," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(2-3), pages 121-130, December.
    3. Li, Xiaoming & Harrison, Sayward E. & Fairchild, Amanda J. & Chi, Peilian & Zhao, Junfeng & Zhao, Guoxiang, 2017. "A randomized controlled trial of a resilience-based intervention on psychosocial well-being of children affected by HIV/AIDS: Effects at 6- and 12-month follow-up," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 256-264.
    4. Jiang, Yanping & Li, Xiaoming & Harrison, Sayward E. & Zhang, JiaJia & Qiao, Shan & Decker, Scott & Zhao, Junfeng & Zhao, Guoxiang, 2022. "Long-term effects of a resilience-based intervention on mental health of children affected by parental HIV in China: Testing the mediation effects of emotion regulation and coping," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    5. Smith Fawzi, Mary C. & Eustache, Eddy & Oswald, Catherine & Louis, Ermaze & Surkan, Pamela J. & Scanlan, Fiona & Hook, Sarah & Mancuso, Anna & Mukherjee, Joia S., 2012. "Psychosocial support intervention for HIV-affected families in Haiti: Implications for programs and policies for orphans and vulnerable children," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(10), pages 1494-1503.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Bo & Li, Xiaoming & Barnett, Douglas & Zhao, Guoxiang & Zhao, Junfeng & Stanton, Bonita, 2012. "Risk and protective factors for depression symptoms among children affected by HIV/AIDS in rural China: A structural equation modeling analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(9), pages 1435-1443.
    2. Rachel Goldberg, 2013. "Family Instability and Early Initiation of Sexual Activity in Western Kenya," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(2), pages 725-750, April.
    3. Rachel Goldberg & Susan Short, 2012. "“The Luggage that isn’t Theirs is Too Heavy…”: Understandings of Orphan Disadvantage in Lesotho," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 31(1), pages 67-83, February.
    4. Titeca, Kristof & Omwa, Samuel Samson, 2011. "Community-based initiatives in response to the OVC crisis in North Central Uganda," IOB Discussion Papers 2011.04, Universiteit Antwerpen, Institute of Development Policy (IOB).
    5. Ariyo, Esther & Mortelmans, Dimitri & Wouters, Edwin, 2019. "The African child in kinship care: A systematic review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 178-187.
    6. Hy V Huynh & Susan P Limber & Christine L Gray & Martie P Thompson & Augustine I Wasonga & Vanroth Vann & Dafrosa Itemba & Misganaw Eticha & Ira Madan & Kathryn Whetten, 2019. "Factors affecting the psychosocial well-being of orphan and separated children in five low- and middle-income countries: Which is more important, quality of care or care setting?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(6), pages 1-12, June.
    7. Kaggwa, Esther B. & Hindin, Michelle J., 2010. "The psychological effect of orphanhood in a matured HIV epidemic: An analysis of young people in Mukono, Uganda," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 1002-1010, April.
    8. Thurman, Tonya Renee & Snider, Leslie A. & Boris, Neil W. & Kalisa, Edward & Nyirazinyoye, Laetitia & Brown, Lisanne, 2008. "Barriers to the community support of orphans and vulnerable youth in Rwanda," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(7), pages 1557-1567, April.
    9. Fournier, Bonnie & Bridge, Andrea & Pritchard Kennedy, Andrea & Alibhai, Arif & Konde-Lule, Joseph, 2014. "Hear our voices: A Photovoice project with children who are orphaned and living with HIV in a Ugandan group home," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 55-63.
    10. Christopher Ksoll, 2007. "Family Networks and Orphan Caretaking in Tanzania," Economics Series Working Papers 361, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    11. Karimli, Leyla & Ssewamala, Fred M. & Neilands, Torsten B. & Wells, Christine R. & Bermudez, Laura Gauer, 2019. "Poverty, economic strengthening, and mental health among AIDS orphaned children in Uganda: Mediation model in a randomized clinical trial," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 17-24.
    12. Sanghamitra Das & Abhiroop Mukhopadhyay & Tridip Ray, 2008. "Negative reality of the HIV positives: Evaluating welfare loss in a low prevalence country," Discussion Papers 08-02, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi.
    13. Abebe, Tatek & Aase, Asbjorn, 2007. "Children, AIDS and the politics of orphan care in Ethiopia: The extended family revisited," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(10), pages 2058-2069, May.
    14. Qi Zhao & Hui He & Huang Gu & Junfeng Zhao & Peilian Chi & Xiaoming Li, 2021. "Facial Expression Processing of Children Orphaned by Parental HIV/AIDS: A Cross-Sectional ERP Study with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-11, September.
    15. Hagen, Jens & Omar Mahmoud, Toman & Trofimenko, Natalia, 2010. "Orphanhood and critical periods in children's human capital formation: Long-run evidence from North-Western Tanzania," Kiel Working Papers 1649, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    16. Yanagisawa, Satoko & Poudel, Krishna C. & Jimba, Masamine, 2010. "Sibling caregiving among children orphaned by AIDS: Synthesis of recent studies for policy implications," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(2-3), pages 121-130, December.
    17. Kathleen Beegle & Joachim Weerdt & Stefan Dercon, 2010. "Orphanhood and human capital destruction: Is there persistence into adulthood?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(1), pages 163-180, February.
    18. Hagen, Jens & Omar Mahmoud, Toman & Trofimenko, Natalia, 2010. "Orphanhood and Critical Periods in Children's Human Capital Formation: Long-Run Evidence from North-Western Tanzania," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Hannover 2010 33, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    19. Campbell, Catherine & Andersen, Louise & Mutsikiwa, Alice & Pufall, Erica & Skovdal, Morten & Madanhire, Claudius & Nyamukapa, Connie & Gregson, Simon, 2015. "Factors shaping the HIV-competence of two primary schools in rural Zimbabwe," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 226-236.
    20. Grossmann, Volker & Strulik, Holger, 2021. "Illicit drugs and the decline of the middle class," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 718-743.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:68:y:2009:i:6:p:1038-1043. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.