Amsterdam 2015
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| Abstract #2071 - Poster 1 | ||||
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Session: 58.30: Poster 1 (Poster) on Tuesday in Chaired by Authors: Presenting Author: Professor Ashraf Kagee - Stellenbosch University, South Africa |
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| Additional Authors: Dr Kouassi Martin, Mr Brou Sylvain, | ||||
| Aim: The aim of the study is to determine the prevalence of common mental disorders, specifically major depressive disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and patterns of alcohol use among a sample of South Africans seeking HIV testing at five voluntary counselling and testing sites in the Western Cape in South Africa. | ||||
| Method / Issue: We administered specific modules the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM (SCID) to a sample of 300 persons seeking HIV testing at five non-medical voluntary counselling and testing sites in South Africa. The SCID was anchored to psychiatric symptoms as specified in the DSMV. Participants were invited to take part in the study as they arrived for an HIV test. The SCID interviews were conducted by trained interviewers prior to the participant receiving an HIV test. Those persons who were identified as being psychologically distress or disordered were referred for psychological services at facilities in or around the community where they lived. | ||||
| Results / Comments: As of this writing, we have recruited a total of 166 participants and plan to have a total of 300 participants by July 2015. Thus far we have found elevated rates of major depressive disorder (16.2%), post-traumatic stress disorder (4.9%), generalised anxiety disorder (6.1%), and alcohol use disorders (9.7%). In the presentation we will report on the percentages of the full sample who meet the diagnostic criteria for these disorders, as well as the confidence intervals associated with these prevalence estimates. We also found that among persons who did not meet the criteria for a psychiatric disorder, many reported many symptoms associated with these disorders. We will report on this as well. | ||||
| Discussion: The results appear to indicate elevated rates of common mental disorders, as well as sub-threshold symptoms of these disorders. We will make the case that, in addition to HIV-specific voluntary counselling and testing, it may be necessary for VCT clinics to either offer mental health counselling to persons seeking HIV testing, or otherwise have in place a clear referral system so that distressed or psychiatrically disordered persons may be able to access the treatment they need. | ||||
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