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Discourses of Mental Wellness Among Adolescents Living with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is a unique period of development where individuals transition from childhood to adulthood, and where they are at heightened risk for developing mental health problems and engaging in risky behaviours. In addition, adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV) must learn to cope with c...

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Autores principales: Orth, Zaida, van Wyk, Brian
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Dove 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9188805/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35702635
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S360145
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author Orth, Zaida
van Wyk, Brian
author_facet Orth, Zaida
van Wyk, Brian
author_sort Orth, Zaida
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Adolescence is a unique period of development where individuals transition from childhood to adulthood, and where they are at heightened risk for developing mental health problems and engaging in risky behaviours. In addition, adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV) must learn to cope with challenges related to the biological impact of a chronic condition, adhering to lifelong treatment, and managing HIV-related psychological and social challenges. Mental wellness as a precursor to mental wellbeing, is vital to facilitate persistent adherence and engagement in care for optimal treatment outcomes for ALHIV. However, little is known about how ALHIV understand and talk about mental wellness in the context being on HIV treatment. METHODS: We conducted a photovoice study with 12 groups, consisting of 43 ALHIV, aged 15–19 years, and receiving HIV treatment at three public primary health care facilities in the Western Cape Metropole in South Africa. RESULTS: Through discourse analysis, we identified six themes that depicted mental wellness concepts that were prominent in their experiences, namely, connectedness, spirituality and mindfulness, social coherence and awareness, self-esteem, self-acceptance, and sense of coherence. In addition, the adolescents gave accounts of six mental wellness behaviours namely, self-efficacy, coping, resilience, life purpose, engagement in enjoyable life activities and physical functioning. DISCUSSION: These concepts and behaviours are similar to those identified in targeted interventions aimed at ALHIV. These mental wellness concepts and behaviours are critical to improving health outcomes for ALHIV and should be targeted in the delivery of youth friendly services and integrated HIV care in public healthcare facilities in South Africa and the sub-Saharan African continent.
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spelling pubmed-91888052022-06-13 Discourses of Mental Wellness Among Adolescents Living with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa Orth, Zaida van Wyk, Brian Psychol Res Behav Manag Original Research BACKGROUND: Adolescence is a unique period of development where individuals transition from childhood to adulthood, and where they are at heightened risk for developing mental health problems and engaging in risky behaviours. In addition, adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV) must learn to cope with challenges related to the biological impact of a chronic condition, adhering to lifelong treatment, and managing HIV-related psychological and social challenges. Mental wellness as a precursor to mental wellbeing, is vital to facilitate persistent adherence and engagement in care for optimal treatment outcomes for ALHIV. However, little is known about how ALHIV understand and talk about mental wellness in the context being on HIV treatment. METHODS: We conducted a photovoice study with 12 groups, consisting of 43 ALHIV, aged 15–19 years, and receiving HIV treatment at three public primary health care facilities in the Western Cape Metropole in South Africa. RESULTS: Through discourse analysis, we identified six themes that depicted mental wellness concepts that were prominent in their experiences, namely, connectedness, spirituality and mindfulness, social coherence and awareness, self-esteem, self-acceptance, and sense of coherence. In addition, the adolescents gave accounts of six mental wellness behaviours namely, self-efficacy, coping, resilience, life purpose, engagement in enjoyable life activities and physical functioning. DISCUSSION: These concepts and behaviours are similar to those identified in targeted interventions aimed at ALHIV. These mental wellness concepts and behaviours are critical to improving health outcomes for ALHIV and should be targeted in the delivery of youth friendly services and integrated HIV care in public healthcare facilities in South Africa and the sub-Saharan African continent. Dove 2022-06-08 /pmc/articles/PMC9188805/ /pubmed/35702635 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S360145 Text en © 2022 Orth and van Wyk. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) ). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms (https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php).
spellingShingle Original Research
Orth, Zaida
van Wyk, Brian
Discourses of Mental Wellness Among Adolescents Living with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa
title Discourses of Mental Wellness Among Adolescents Living with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa
title_full Discourses of Mental Wellness Among Adolescents Living with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa
title_fullStr Discourses of Mental Wellness Among Adolescents Living with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Discourses of Mental Wellness Among Adolescents Living with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa
title_short Discourses of Mental Wellness Among Adolescents Living with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa
title_sort discourses of mental wellness among adolescents living with hiv in cape town, south africa
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9188805/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35702635
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S360145
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