RESEARCH ARTICLE
Resilience and Life Expectations of Perinatally HIV-1 Infected Adolescents in France
Isabelle Funck-Brentano*, 1, Lambert Assoumou2, 3, Florence Veber1, Despina Moshous1, 5, Pierre Frange1, 4, Stéphane Blanche1, 5
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2016Volume: 10
First Page: 209
Last Page: 224
Publisher ID: TOAIDJ-10-209
DOI: 10.2174/1874613601610010209
Article History:
Received Date: 09/08/2016Revision Received Date: 06/10/2016
Acceptance Date: 07/10/2016
Electronic publication date: 09/11/2016
Collection year: 2016
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International Public License (CC BY-NC 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode), which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background:
Resilience of perinatally HIV-infected youth in European countries is poorly studied. Life satisfaction and expectations for adulthood are rarely examined.
Objective:
This cross-sectional, descriptive study of a French cohort of 54 perinatally HIV-infected adolescents raised in France (age 14-20 years) aimed to (1) evaluate their psychosocial adjustment, (2) identify their expectations for adulthood and (3) delineate risk and protective factors associated with mental health, life satisfaction, and HIV-1 viral load level.
Method:
Medical evaluation, psychological semi-structured interview, and self-report questionnaires were used.
Results:
All the adolescents had been receiving Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART) for 9 to 11 years and 2/3 were healthy with controlled viral load (<50 copies/mL). The majority had medium to high levels of life satisfaction. They viewed HIV as having only minor impact on their current daily life and had positive expectations for adulthood. However, 46% exhibited psychiatric symptomatology. Multivariable analysis showed that having a deceased parent and current worries about HIV were substantial risk factors for psychiatric symptoms. Having two living parents and being satisfied with life were protective factors for mental health. Good quality of caregiver-adolescent relationships and high life satisfaction were significant protective factors for controlled viral load.
Conclusion:
These data indicate psychosocial resilience among perinatally HIV-1 infected adolescents with 10 years of HAART treatment. These findings demonstrate the influence of life satisfaction, parent’s life status and quality of caregiver-adolescent relationships on resilience and health outcomes in these patients. We conclude that healthcare providers should attend to these factors.
