Abstract #214  -  Does the HIV status of a mother have an impact on the functioning of her child?
Authors:   Presenting Author:   Dr Jennifer Makin - University of Pretoria
Additional Authors:  Dr Brian Forsyth, Prof Irma Eloff, Dr  Alex Boeving, Prof Maretha  Visser, Ms Michelle Finestone, Dr Margaret  Briggs Gowan, Dr Kathleen Sikkema, Prof  Liesl Ebersohn, Dr Ronel Ferrreira,
Aim: This study forms part of a larger randomized controlled trial of an intervention aimed at improving resilience in uninfected (“affected”) children of HIV-infected mothers. The aim of the present study was to assess whether in fact there are psychological and behavioral differences between children of HIV-negative and HIV-positive mothers.
Method / Issue: This was a cross sectional study in which mothers and their children, aged 6 – 10 years were recruited at primary health care and immunology clinics in Tshwane, Gauteng. Individual interviews were conducted with both mothers and their children. The data included information on socio-demographic factors and instruments measuring maternal depression, maternal reaction to the child’s negative emotions, stress associated with parenting, and the mother’s reporting of her child’s functioning and behaviour. The child interview contained a battery of instruments measuring anxiety, depression, emotional intelligence, coping, spirituality and self- appraisal. The primary analysis compared HIV-infected mothers and their affected children with HIV-non- infected mothers and children. A secondary analysis was performed to compare those women with advanced disease with the HIV-uninfected comparison group
Results / Comments: A total of 333 mother-child pairs were interviewed, 244 in the HIV-infected group and 89 in HIV- uninfected group. Forty-five (18.4%) were categorized as having advanced HIV diseaseSocio-demographics Women who were HIV-infected were more likely to have no partner (34% vs 8% p<0.001); if they did have a partner he was less likely to be the child’s father (22% vs 41% p< 0.001) and it was more likely that the child did not have contact with him (32% vs 15% p<0.001.) The child’s father was more likely to be HIV- infected (51% vs 3% p<0.001) and there was a greater likelihood of there being other HIV-infected individuals in the household (29% vs 18% p=0.035)Mother HIV-infected mothers were more likely to be depressed (66% vs 54% p=0.037) and this was more marked in those with advanced disease (84% vs 56%,p=0.001). Women with advanced disease also had higher scores on the Parenting Stress Index Scale (p=0.03)Child-focused instruments. Although HIV-infected mothers tended to respond in a more positive way to their children’s negative emotions (p<0.10) these differences were not statistically significant. There were no significant differences between children of infected mothers and HIV-unaffected children in any of the measures of child behaviour and functioning.
Discussion: Women who are HIV-infected are more likely to be depressed and those with advanced disease experience more stress in the parenting role. The results of this study, however, suggest that children of infected mothers function in an equivalent fashion to unaffected children living in the same community.
Go Back