 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
John S. Wiebe, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Avenue, El Paso, TX 79968, (915) 747-6563, jwiebe@utep.edu and America Jones, RN, Centro de Salud Familiar la Fe, 1505 Mescalero, El Paso, TX 79925.
This report documents mental health needs in a sample of 286 individuals (86% male, 89% Hispanic, mean age = 39 years) living with HIV on the U.S./Mexico Border. Measures included self-reported need for mental health services, self-reported depressive symptomatology, and clinical diagnostic interviews. These various sources of data demonstrated strong convergent validity. On initial presentation, 34% of patients identified mental health concerns as a clinically significant issue. On a measure of self-reported depressive symptomatology, 30% of patients reported symptoms consistent with at least moderate depression. Diagnostic interviews by a licensed mental health professional resulted in referral of 36% of patients for further mental health services, 32% of whom were diagnosed with mood disorders. The most frequent psychosocial stressor documented in clinical interviews was lack of adequate social support. Although there was no association between acculturation and mental health, there was consistent evidence for a protective effect of Hispanic ethnicity across measures, consistent with past work on ethnicity and mental health. These data demonstrate the need for bilingual, bicultural mental health professionals with expertise in HIV/AIDS care provision.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Mental Health Services
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.