Mental health characteristics in adolescents living with HIV in instituitional shelter in Ho Chi Minh City in 2022

Abstract

A cross - sectional study was performed to describe the mental health characteristics of adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV) residing in institutional shelters in Ho Chi Minh City in 2022. Thirty-three ALHIV from Mai Hoa Shelter and Mai Tam Shelter participated, providing socio-demographic information via self-completed questionnaires. Using various scales, including DASS-21, MOS-SSS, ACE, and BRS, symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, social support, adverse childhood experiences, and resilience were assessed. Clinical data were also gathered from medical records. ALHIV participating in the study had an average age of 13.7 ± 1.8 years and had lived with HIV for 10.3 ± 4.3 years. Most of them (90.9%) had viral loads below 100 cells/mm3. More than one-third of ALHIV reported at least four types of adverse childhood experiences, and the percentage of ALHIV with symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress was 48.5%, 54.5%, and 27.3% respectively. Nearly 30% of them reported having ever smoked or currently smoking and more than 50% indicated that they had ever drunk and drank alcohol in the past month. These findings underscore that ALHIV in institutional shelters have mental health problems related to depression, anxiety and streess that need to be addressed. Therefore, it is necessary to develop more psychosocial support programs specifically for individuals or groups of ALHIV within institutional shelters.