Effectiveness of a peer-led adolescent mental health intervention on HIV virological suppression and mental health in Zimbabwe: Baseline and Endline questionnaires

Abstract

Adolescents living with HIV have poor virological suppression and high levels of common mental disorders. In Zimbabwe the Zvandiri adolescent peer support programme is effective at improving ART adherence and virological suppression. We assessed the effect of training peer supporters in problem-solving therapy (PST) using a cluster-randomised controlled trial. Sixty clinics stratified by district were randomised 1:1 to either normal Zvandiri peer support or a peer supporter trained in PST by Friendship Bench. We enrolled 842 adolescents aged 11-19. The primary outcome was virological non-suppression, defined as viral load ≥1000 copies. Secondary outcomes were symptoms of common mental disorder measured with the Shona Symptom Questionnaire (SSQ, cutpoint 8/14) and depression measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9, cutpoint 10/27), and health utility score using the EQ-5D (range 0-1, cutpoint 1). Analysis was at the individual level with a random effect for clustering. Case reviews and focus group discussions were used for qualitative analysis to determine feasibility. This item contains baseline and endline questionnaires used for data collection