Psychological distress and its predictors in AIDS orphan adolescents in Addis Ababa city: A comparative survey

Hiwot Getachew · Fentie Ambaw · Lakew Gebretsadik Abebe · Wondosen Kasahun

28 citations0/0 files storedEthiopian Journal of Health Development

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare Child Welfare and Adoption Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health

Abstract

Abstract Back ground: In developing countries the number of children orphaned by AIDS is growing rapidly. Consequently, the psychological well-being of these children has become a serious concern. Objectives: To assess the psychological distress of AIDS orphans as compared to non-AIDS orphan adolescents and factors related to it, in Addis Ababa. Methods: Comparative cross-sectional design combining both quantitative and qualitative methods was used. An equal number of 438 subjects were included in this study with each group of AIDS and non-AIDS orphan adolescents between 11-18 age groups. Structured interviewer administered questionnaire and scales including HAD, Rosenberg’s and MPSS scales were used to measure the orphans’ level of depression, anxiety, self-esteem and their perceived social support. Result: Among the study participants, 279 (34.7%) orphan adolescents where 157 (39.1%) of AIDS and 122 (30.3 %) of non-AIDS orphan adolescents were depressed in the week before the survey. Moreover, 301(37.4%) orphan adolescents where 164 (40.8%) of AIDS and 137 (34.1%) of non-AID once were anxious. However, the difference observed in depression and anxiety [OR (95% CI) =1.164(0.733, 1.754) & 0.88(0.57, 1.33)] was not statistically significant. The main predicator variables of depression and anxiety in both study groups were their perceived social support and self-esteem. Factors such as discrimination, school enrollment, physical abuse, child labor were also identified as predicators. Conclusion: A large proportion of orphan adolescents are having psychological problems that can affect their present and future life. Thus, a more focused and concerted effort is needed to improve their mental health. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2011;25(2):135-142]

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 28 citations exist upstream.

References

1965Self-Esteem: Clinical Assessment and Measurement Validation 2005Psychological distress among AIDS orphans in rural Uganda 2002Psychological well-being of orphans in Dar El Salaam, Tanzania 1994A Validity Study of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale in General Hospital Units and a Community Sample in Nigeria 2007Risk and protective factors for psychological well-being of children orphaned by AIDS in Cape Town: a qualitative study of children and caregivers’ perspectives 1994Kinship foster care: Placement, service, and outcome issues 2008Effects of Stigma on the Mental Health of Adolescents Orphaned by AIDS 2006The psychological well-being of children orphaned by AIDS in Cape Town, South Africa

Cited by

2018Prevalence and Associated Factors of Depression among Orphan Adolescents in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 2013Mental health of HIV/AIDS orphans: A review 2015The Role of Demographic and Positive Psychological Factors on Quality of Life in Ghanaian Orphans Placed in Orphanages: An Exploratory Study 2014The situation of orphans and vulnerable children in selected Woredas and towns in Jimma Zone

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.