Search

Introduction: It has been found that HIV positive women are becoming increasingly affected by various illnesses, including Common Mental Disorders (CMDs) such as depression. Such comorbidity escalates the disease progression to the severe stage and commonly hinders treatment adherence. This study determined the prevalence of anxiety and depression amidst women living with HIV. Methods: Based on a cross-sectional and facility-based study, 357 HIV positive women were recruited using the systematic sampling technique from two public hospitals in Jijiga town, Ethiopia. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was administered for screening, and followed by a pre-tested questionnaire that comprised of Perceived Social Support and HIV stigma. Results: The results revealed that the prevalence of both anxiety and depression amidst HIV positive women was 28.9% and 32.5%, respectively. In the multivariate analysis, it was discovered that lack of formal education, being divorced, unemployed, and earning a monthly income less than 1400 ETB (37.5 USD) were significantly associated with depression. Women with symptomatic HIV clinical stage III (AOR =2.06, 95% C.I (0.75-5.61), with CD4 cell count below 250 (AOR = 1.14, 95% C.I (0.57-2.28), and with co-infections (AOR= 1.04, 95% C.I (0.40-2.71) also suffered from depression. Conclusion: The study outcomes show that the prevalence of depression in women with HIV was 32.5%, but they were more likely to be depressed if they were illiterate, divorced, unemployed or had a financial burden. In addition, HIV positive women with less CD4 cell count and in the final clinical stage or suffered from a co-infection were also associated with depressive symptoms. This signifies the public health implications of psychological and cognitive morbidities of the illness among these women with chronic illnesses. Hence, future mental health interventions and HIV care should be integrated with substantial emphasis given to vulnerable groups, including HIV positive women.

Background: Adolescence is a critical transition phase in the life of an individual to be independent and to mould their own identity. Family dynamic is the most influential factor in adolescent mental health. Objectives. This research aimed to analyse the differences of family values, psychological distress and its associated finadolescents living in a long-term residential care as compared to adolescents in an ordinary school.Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out with 150 respondents using clustered random sampling. The Asian Family Characteristics Scale was used to assess the family values. The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale was used to measure the mental state of the respondents.Results: Children in long-term residential care showed significantly lower family values in all domains and higher in levels of stress, anxiety, depression. Findings show that there is significant association between psychological distress and family values.Conclusion: Family dynamic has a strong ramification to behavioural and psychological aspects of adolescents. Preventive measures and policy maker should be advocated in order to minimize psychological problems among adolescence in this country., Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol 7, No 1 (2019)

Even though the role of the DICS1 gene as a risk factor for schizophrenia is still unclear, there is substantial evidence from functional and cell biology studies that supports the connection of the gene with schizophrenia. The studies associating the DISC1 gene with schizophrenia in Asian populations are limited to East-Asian populations. Our study examined several DISC1 markers of schizophrenia that were identified in the Caucasian and East-Asian populations in Malaysia and assessed the role of rs2509382, which is located at 11q14.3, the mutual translocation region of the famous DISC1 translocation [t (1; 11) (p42.1; q14.3)]. METHODS: We genotyped eleven single-neucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) within or related to DISC1 (rs821597, rs821616, rs4658971, rs1538979, rs843979, rs2812385, rs1407599, rs4658890, and rs2509382) using the PCR-RFLP methods. RESULTS: In all, there were 575 participants (225 schizophrenic patients and 350 healthy controls) of either Malay or Chinese ethnicity. The case-control analyses found two SNPs that were associated with schizophrenia [rs4658971 (p=0.030; OR=1.43 (1.35-1.99) and rs1538979-(p=0.036; OR=1.35 (1.02-1.80)] and rs2509382-susceptibility among the males schizophrenics [p=0.0082; OR=2.16 (1.22-3.81)]. This is similar to the meta-analysis findings for the Caucasian populations. CONCLUSION: The study supports the notion that the DISC1 gene is a marker of schizophrenia susceptibility and that rs2509382 in the mutual DISC1 translocation region is a susceptibility marker for schizophrenia among males in Malaysia. However, the finding of the study is limited due to possible genetic stratification and the small sample size. KEYWORDS: DISC1; SNPs; Schizophrenia; Susceptibility