Abstract #96  -  Mental health issues surrounding bereavement and HIV in children
Authors:   Presenting Author:   Ms Joanne Mueller - UCL
Additional Authors:
Aim: Parental illness and death can affect child and adolescent psychosocial well-being and risk behaviours. Mental health effects of parental bereavement generally and HIV-related bereavement specifically have been poorly explored in children. HIV-related illness has a number of specific features that may directly affect mental health considerations. Infection is clustered in families. Bereavement is often multiple. Death is often preceded by severe illness and multiple opportunistic infections. AIDS is stigmatised, which may impede disclosure, social support and adjustment. In low-income countries where HIV infection is concentrated, access to palliative care as well as medical care may be limited. This review systematically identifies studies on HIV and bereavement in children in order to inform future policy and practice.
Method / Issue: Electronic databases were systematically searched for relevant articles using key words such as child/ren, bereavement, parental death, orphan/s and HIV/AIDS. Abstracts generated were hand-coded for relevance to psychosocial outcomes of bereavement and HIV, and screened for quality.
Results / Comments: The review revealed 14 studies examining bereavement with sufficient measurement and controlled methodology, and providing standardised behavioural and emotional outcome measures. Scrutiny of the results revealed the majority (12: 86%) recorded an adverse behavioural or emotional impact on the child. A detailed analysis of the studies provides insights to risks as well as protective factors that may inform future interventions. Only one systematic intervention was identified whereby a coping skills intervention had positive and long-lasting effects.
Discussion: This paper highlights an urgent need for further systematic research, and the requirement for evidence-based policy and intervention provision in this area.
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