Sankofa pediatric HIV disclosure intervention did not worsen depression scores in children living with HIV and their caregivers in Ghana

Christopher Radcliffe,Nancy R Reynolds,On Behalf Of The Sankofa Team ,Elijah Paintsil,Irene Pokuaa Ofori,Yanhong Deng,Amina Alhassan,Aba Sam,Sampson Antwi,Quinn Matos,Kofi Amissah,Yunshan Xu

doi:10.1186/s12889-020-09678-2

Abstract

BackgroundThe ‘Sankofa’ pediatric HIV disclosure study (2013–2017) was an intervention that aimed to address the low prevalence of disclosure of HIV status in Ghana.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study at the intervention site in Kumasi, Ghana, in 2019, (2 years after study closure) and administered the 21-item Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the 10-item Child Depression Inventory (CDI) to caregiver-child dyads who received the intervention.ResultsWe enrolled 65% (N = 157) of the original dyads in the present study. Between Sankofa enrollment baseline and the present study, both children and caregivers had significant (p < 0.0001) mean reductions in CDI scores and BDI scores, respectively. CDI scores of the children were significantly correlated with BDI scores of the caregivers (r = 0.019, p = 0.019). No statistically significant associations between disclosure status and either CDI score or BDI score were found.ConclusionsOur findings did not support caregivers’ fears that disclosure leads to depression.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01701635 (date of registration Oct 5, 2012).

Highlights

The ‘Sankofa’ pediatric HIV disclosure study (2013–2017) was an intervention that aimed to address the low prevalence of disclosure of HIV status in Ghana
We report the findings of a cross-sectional, postintervention study conducted from June to August 2019 that sought to explore the long-term effects of the ‘Sankofa’ parent study and disclosure on depression symptoms in caregiver-child dyads at the intervention site, Kumasi, Ghana
Characteristics of study participants Of the 240 caregiver-child dyads who received the Sankofa intervention at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) during the parent study, 65% (N = 157) of them were successfully enrolled in the current study

Summary

Introduction

The ‘Sankofa’ pediatric HIV disclosure study (2013–2017) was an intervention that aimed to address the low prevalence of disclosure of HIV status in Ghana. In 2018, there were 2.8 million children and adolescents living with HIV globally [1]. Sub-Saharan Africa has been disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic, and it is home to nearly 90% of children and adolescents living with HIV [1]. There has been an unprecedented effort to scale up antiretroviral therapy (ART) in sub-Saharan Africa. With expanding ART coverage in subSaharan Africa, children living with HIV are living longer. Radcliffe et al BMC Public Health (2020) 20:1578 disclosure, such as retention in care, avoidance of treatment failure, and improvement of HIV knowledge [7, 9, 10]

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Discussion

Conclusion