- Collection:
- Atlanta University and Clark Atlanta University Theses and Dissertations
- Title:
- A study of mental health factors in healthy African-American children and adolescents affected by maternal HIV/AIDS diagnosis, 2002
- Creator:
- Jones, Jenny L.
- Date of Original:
- 2002-07-01
- Subject:
- Degrees, Academic
Dissertations, Academic - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798
- Medium:
- theses
dissertations - Type:
- Text
- Format:
- application/pdf
- Description:
- Healthy African-American children living in households with a parent or sibling diagnosed with HIV/AIDS struggle with emotional and social stressors that threaten to interrupt their psychosocial development. Limited research shows that the behavior of healthy HIV-affected children and adolescents who live in the home where HIV is present is dissimilar to non-affected children, particularly in the areas of depression, anxiety, and external problem behaviors - - i.e., aggression, hyperactivity, and delinquency. This study, a replication of a previous study, was designed to compare selected mental health variables and behaviors, depression, anxiety, somatization, and external problem behaviors�between inner-city, African-American children who live in a family where their mother are infected with HIV/AIDS and children who lived in non-AIDS infected families. The convenience sampling technique was used and data was collected from numerous community-based HTV/AIDS service organizations in the metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia area. The sample was comprised of28 African-American families, totaling 51 children. The Parent Rating Scale (PRS) and Self-Report (SRP) of the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC) was used to examine the mental health variables for HIV-affected children and non-HIV-affected children. The PRS is a comprehensive measure of a child's problem and adaptive behavior and is based on the parent's perception ofthe child's behavior. The SRP is a personality inventory that the child completes regarding his/her behavior. The data was analyzed via t-test comparisons ofmeans and chi-square analyses. A supplemental qualitative analysis was also conducted. Findings from this study indicated that there was not a statistically significant difference in levels of depression, anxiety, somatization, and external problem behaviors in AIDS-affected children when compared to children who did not live in the home with a parent or caregiver who is infected with HIV/AIDS. However, the results of this study did indicate that a statistically significant difference existed between AIDS-affected and non-ADDS-affected children with respect to the percentage of children who exhibited statistically significant levels of depression, anxiety, and somatization.
Degree type: dissertation
Degree name: Doctor of Social Work (DSW)
Granting institution: Clark Atlanta University
Department: School of Social Work
Advisor: Ajo, Amos A. - Metadata URL:
- http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12322/cau.td:2002_jones_jenny_l
- Holding Institution:
- Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library
- Rights:
-
