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In New York City, Bauman, Silver, Draimin, and Hudis (2007) assessed clinically significant psychiatric and behavioral symptoms every 6 months over a period of 2 years among 129 children between the ages of 8 and 12 years who were not infected with HIV but living with their mothers, who had HIV disease. Remarkably, during this 2-year period, "every child had a score in the clinical range (12% once, 25% twice, 26% 3 times, 27% 4 times, and 9% all 5 times). Clinically significant symptoms were most likely at baseline when mothers were sickest. Few had clinically significant symptoms based on maternal report only (5%) or child report only (8%). Chronicity of clinically significant symptoms was not related to child age or gender, maternal health or depression, [or] parent-child relationship" (p. e1141). With regard to the symptomatology,
[t]he type of mental health problem that children experienced varied, although separation anxiety was most common in younger children, and internalizing problems were reported more by children than by their parents; parents reported more conduct problems, a finding consistent with the larger mental health literature. These children of HIV-infected mothers did not exhibit consistent profiles of symptoms across the sample; neither were symptoms consistent within individual children over time. This puts an additional burden on health professionals who are looking for ways to target clinical assistance to distressed children. (p. e1146)
It bears mentioning that, during this study, "[a]lthough two thirds of the children received mental health services ..., < 25% did at any 1 time, and 28% of children with chronic clinically significant symptoms never received care" (p. e1141). Bauman and colleagues conclude that "[c]hildren who are affected by AIDS should be routinely screened for psychiatric problems by using multiple measures and sources to avoid underidentification and be carefully monitored long-term" (p. e1141).
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Spring 2008 Newsletter / Volume 9, Issue 3
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