Symptoms of Psychological Distress: A Comparison of Rural and Urban Individuals Enrolled in HIV-Related Mental Health Care

Abstract

Over the past decade, the number of individuals who have been diagnosed with HIV in nonmetropolitan areas (population of less than 50,000 individuals) has increased; however, the majority of the research has been conducted in metropolitan areas. Even less research has examined the levels of psychological distress among rural individual living with HIV. The purpose of this study was to explore the nature and range of psychological distress symptoms experienced by individuals living in rural areas who had self-enrolled into HIV-related mental health care and to compare their levels of distress to their urban counterparts accessing care at the same clinic. Data were collected from 95 individuals who self-enrolled in HIV-related mental health at either a rural (n = 47) or urban (n = 48) clinic. All participants completed the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), the instrument used in this study to assess symptoms of psychological distress. Rural participants had significantly higher mean scores on the hostility dimension of the BSI, F(1, 93) = 8.77, p = 0.004, than their urban counterparts. Furthermore, the rural participants had a greater proportion of individuals who had a T-score >or=63, a level indicative of a need for further psychological evaluation, for generalized anxiety, hostility, and psychoticism. The results indicated that rural individuals presented with higher levels of symptoms of psychological distress than their urban counterparts. These differences may be reflective of situational circumstances in rural areas where access to care, social isolation, and perceived stigma may delay screening for, and treatment of, psychological distress.