Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Feb;38(1):17-27.
doi: 10.1007/s10865-014-9556-7. Epub 2014 Feb 9.

Social support as a protective factor for depression among women caring for children in HIV-endemic South Africa

Marisa Casale  1 , Lauren Wild, Lucie Cluver, Caroline Kuo
Affiliations

Social support as a protective factor for depression among women caring for children in HIV-endemic South Africa

Marisa Casale et al. J Behav Med. 2015 Feb.

Abstract

Social support has been shown to be a protective resource for mental health among chronically ill adults and caregiver populations. However, to date no known studies have quantitatively explored the relationship between social support and depression among women caring for children in HIV-endemic Southern Africa, although they represent a high risk population for mental health conditions. Using data from a household survey with 2,199 adult female caregivers of children, living in two resource-deprived high HIV-prevalence South African communities, we conducted hierarchical logistic regression analysis with interaction terms to assess whether social support had a main effect or stress-buffering effect on depression. Findings provide evidence of stress-buffering of non-HIV-related chronic illness, but not HIV-related illness. Results reinforce the importance of social support for the mental health of chronically ill caregivers, and suggest that factors related to the specific nature of HIV/AIDS may be hindering the potential stress-buffering effects of social support among people living with the disease. Implications for future research and interventions are discussed.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Statements regarding conflict of interest and adherence to ethical standards for working with human subjects:

Marisa Casale, Lauren Wild, Lucie Cluver and Caroline Kuo declare that they have no conflict of interest.

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (5). Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

References

    1. Akintola O. Defying all odds: coping with the challenges of volunteer caregiving for patients with AIDS in South Africa. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 2008;63(4):357–365. - PubMed
    1. Antelman G, Kaaya S, Wei R, Mbwambo J, Msamanga G, Fawzi W, Fawzi M. Depressive symptoms increase risk of HIV disease progression and mortality among women in Tanzania. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. 2007;44(4):470–477. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barnett T, Whiteside A. AIDS in the twenty-first century: Disease and globalization. New York: Palgrave Macmillan; 2006.
    1. Belue R, Schreiner A, Taylor-Richardson K, Murray-Kolb L, Beard J. What matters most: an investigation of predictors of perceived stress among mothers in Khayelitsha. Health Care for Women International. 2008;29(6):638–648. - PubMed
    1. Bennetts A, Shaffer N, Manopaiboon C, Chaiyakul P, Siriwasin W, Mock P, Klumthanom K, Sorapipatana S, Yuvasevee C, Jalanchavanapate S, Clark L. Determinants of depression and HIV-related worry among HIV-positive women who have recently given birth, Bangkok, Thailand. Social Science & Medicine. 1999;49:737–749. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources