title: Community-based mental health counseling for children orphaned by AIDS in China.
abstract: There is an urgent need to develop scalable approaches to community-based mental health services for children in rural China and other developing countries involving task shifting from clinicians to trained community workers. Evidence is needed about the effectiveness of interventions for children affected by AIDS in rural areas. This article describes an intervention study aimed at developing, implementing, and evaluating a community-based counseling program for the AIDS orphans of Fuyang, Anhui Province, an area of central China where a tainted blood donation scheme infected countless farmers and left many children orphaned by AIDS. In China these children live in rural settings with no access to mental health services. The authors trained a group of community-based counselors to provide group counseling sessions focusing on self-awareness and communication and to provide a basic therapeutic approach for depression and anxiety. The authors conducted a baseline and two follow-up surveys of 39 children who met the clinical diagnostic criteria for anxiety and depression. There was a statistically significant improvement for the children on anxiety, but there was no statistically significant improvement on depression, with greatest gains immediately following the intervention. We demonstrated the feasibility of task shifting for mental health services in this setting.
authors.affiliation: Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA. kaufmanj@brandeis.edu
authors.forename: Joan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Kaufman
authors.forename: Wu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Liyao
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D054540:Child, Orphaned / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003376:Counseling / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D020380:Needs Assessment; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012424:Rural Population; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires