Factors Influencing the Occurrence of Mental Illness in Persons Living with HIV/AIDS in Kabarole District, Uganda

Abstract

HIV infection and psychiatric disorders have a complex relationship. Being HIV infected could result in psychiatric disorders as a psychological consequence of the infection or because of the effect of the HIV virus on the brain. This study aimed at investigating Factors Influencing the Occurrence of Mental Illness in Persons Living with HIV/AIDS in Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital, Kabarole District, Uganda. Structured, pretested Individual Patient Record Review Checklist and General Patient Record Checklist was used to collect data from the hospital’s records. Key Informant Interview (KII) were used to validate checklist findings. It was found that most of the respondents were females (58%), most were in age group (26-36yrs) 40%, majority of the respondents were married (53%), by religion most were protestant (39%), by tribe majority were Mutooro (53%), most of the respondent were illiterate (37%), by occupation majority were peasant farmer 78 (50%), most of the respondent has less than 5 children (80%) and majority were from fort portal municipality (35%) respectively. It was equally found that there was a significant relationships between age, marital status and level of education, where psychological disorder were most common among female with depression 22, anxiety 16, grief 9 and dementia 4, depression is most common in age group of 16-25yrs and 26-35yrs with 11 respectively, depression is mostly among married client 17 (45%) followed by single 12 (31%). These findings suggests that more attention needs to be paid to these disorders, particularly in the light of literature demonstrating the impact of mental disorders, especially depression and anxiety, on disease progression and adherence to antiretroviral medication and formation of liason in management of HIV/AIDs and psychological disorders or to generate a joint treatment plan.