Mobilizing individual social capital resources for HIV care support: results of a pilot intervention in St. Petersburg, Russia

The impact of social capital and mental health on medication adherence among older people living with HIV (PLWH)

Background

The number of older people living with HIV (PLWH) is increasing. Although there are many studies affecting medication adherence, research on the impact of social capital and mental health on medication adherence in this particular population is limited.

Method

Data were collected from an ongoing observational prospective cohort study, starting from November 2018, among older PLWH in Sichuan province, China. Five hundred twenty-one participants were interviewed. Social capital consists of the individual and family (IF) scale, and the community and society (CS) scale. The presence of probable depression and probable anxiety were assessed using the CES-D-10 and GAD-7 scales. Adherence was defined as taking ≥80% of prescribed HIV medication in 4 days prior to the interview. Two sets of Firth’ penalized regression analyses were used to estimate the association between social capital, mental health, and medication adherence.

Results

The prevalence of non-adherence was 18.2% (95/521) among older PLWH in this study. After adjusting for significant factors, the CS social capital (OR: 0.92, 95%CI:0.85–0.99, p < 0.05) and probable anxiety (OR:1.73, 95%CI:1.07–2.80, p < 0.05) were associated with non-adherence.

Conclusion

This study highlighted that the effects of social capital and mental health on older PLWH’s adherence, which implied that the need to develop interventions to concern for mental health and enhance CS social capital to help the older PLWH better manage HIV medication adherence.

Determinants of psychological well-being during the Covid-19 pandemic among "people living with HIV/AIDS" in India

ABSTRACTUsing survey data on 647 "people living with HIV/AIDS" (PLHIV) respondents from India, we examine the association between human, economic, and social capital and psychological well-being during the Covid-19 pandemic, and whether pandemic-induced job and financial insecurity are significant stressors. We find that among human capital indicators, family health status results in a more positive mental state and fewer personal conflicts among PLHIV while having more working-age adults in the household results in more conflict. With regards to economic capital, PLHIV in salaried jobs and self-employment have a less positive mental state compared to those in daily wage work. Compared to daily wage workers, those in salaried jobs and self-employment exhibit lower addictive behavior. Self-employed PLHIV respondents also engage in fewer conflicts with their significant other. We do not find any correlation between social capital and psychological well-being. Job and financial insecurity are negatively associated with psychological well-being. While job insecurity is associated with an increase in addictive behavior, financial insecurity increases the likelihood of more frequent personal conflicts. We conclude that there is a need for greater economic and psychological support from institutions, community, and family to assuage the pandemic-induced psychological distress among PLHIV.ABBREVIATIONS: ART: antiretroviral treatment; GSNP+: Gujarat State Network of Positive People; MHI: mental health inventory; OBC: other backward castes; PLHIV: people living with HIV/AIDS; SC: scheduled castes; SD: standard deviation; ST: scheduled tribes.