The mental health of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) impacted by parental HIV/AIDS: A sample from rural South Africa

Asanbe, C. B. (Comfort)
College of Staten Island/City University of New York, 2800 Victory Blvd., 10314, Staten Island, New York

 

Submission type

Oral only

Scheduled

Room 117, 12-07-2019, 14:00 - 15:30

Keywords

Parental HIV/AIDS, orphans, psychological health, coping strategy, rural community, Southern Africa,

Summary

 

In two studies, researchers assessed the psychological health and coping resources of a sample of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) impacted by parental HIV/AIDS.  They were recruited from an NGO-supported program in rural South Africa. The participants included 119 children (ages 6-10) and 175 adolescents (ages 11-18) from a low-resource community, and consisted of non-orphans (OVC1) as a comparison group, orphans due to AIDS (OVC2), and orphans by other causes (OVC3).  Parents of children in OVC1 and legal guardians of OVC2 and OVC3 rated their children on age appropriate Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).  The adolescents rated themselves on the CBCL/Youth Self-Report and The Children’s Coping Strategies Checklist (CCSC).  The results indicated that a higher proportion of OVC2 had elevated scores above the borderline range for Internalizing problems and Somatization.  Females had elevated scores on Anxious/Depressed and Total Problems compared to males. There was an interaction between factors, such that boys in OVC2 had elevated mean scores on Somatic Complaints. These findings are relatively similar for the adolescent participants.  On coping, group status was not predictive of coping strategy, but Active coping strategy negatively predicted Internalizing and Externalizing problems, whereas, Avoidant coping positively predicted general psychological problems.  Implications will be discussed.

 

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