ABSTRACT

Global literature examining the association between mental health of women living with HIV (WLWH) and child development is scarce. In this study, we examined the relationship between mothers’ mental health and their children’s social development outcomes 6 months later. Data for these analyses come from several waves of interviews of 600 WLWH in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, India. These women were enrolled in a 2 × 2 factorial clinical trial designed to assess the impact of food supplementation and nutrition education, both in addition to ASHA support, on adherence to ART and improved health outcomes for the women and one of their children. They were assessed on food security, stigma, social support, quality of life, depressive symptoms and child development outcomes. Results of longitudinal GEE regression analysis indicate that mother’s depressive symptoms were significantly negatively associated with child’s social quotient 6 months later. These findings have important implications for targeted health interventions, integrating mental health, both for WLWH and their children in India.

摘要

研究 HIV 感染妇女 (WLWH) 的心理健康与儿童发育之间关系的全球文献很少。在这项研究中，我们检查了母亲的心理健康与 6 个月后孩子的社会发展成果之间的关系。这些分析的数据来自印度南部安得拉邦对 600 名 WLWH 的几轮采访。这些女性参加了一项 2 × 2 因子临床试验，该试验旨在评估除了 ASHA 支持外，食品补充和营养教育对坚持 ART 和改善女性及其子女健康结果的影响。他们对粮食安全、耻辱感、社会支持、生活质量、抑郁症状和儿童发展成果进行了评估。纵向GEE回归分析结果表明，母亲的抑郁症状与6个月后孩子的社会商数呈显着负相关。这些发现对针对 WLWH 及其在印度的孩子的有针对性的健康干预、整合心理健康具有重要意义。