The impact of COVID-19 on HIV patients who are on ART in Vhembe district, Limpopo Province, South Africa
Background: People who had mental health conditions before, may be more susceptible to stressors related to Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Understanding the impact, in particular psychosocial impact of the pandemic for people living with HIV (PLWH) is critical, as they are to an extent, already at a risk for common mental disorders such as depression and anxiety, due to the fact that poor mental health may precede negative human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) related outcomes. The study assesses the impact of COVID-19 on HIV patients who are on antiretroviral therapy (ART) at 2 health centres at local municipality in Vhembe district. Methods: The study incorporated a systematic review artle due to the article format of the submission but the main study was quantitative in nature, using a descriptive design that is cross-sectional in nature. Simple random sampling was used in this study to select the sample of respondents who were PLWH, who met the criteria of being on ART treatment from the Limpopo department of health. Data was collected using a questionnaire which incorporated the following scales: Self-Reported HIV Medication Adherence, Fear of COVID Scale and PROMIS 10. The questionnaire was presented and administered to PLWH who are 18 years old and above who are on ART and have been residing in selected local municipality for the previous 12 months. Ethical considerations were observed throughout the study, partcicipants gave full consent verbally and in writing prior data collection. Furthermore consent and approvals were obtained to ensure adherence to good ethical conduct. Results: The Statistical Package of Social Sciences was used to analyse data. The findings highlight a substantial 34,4% of respondents being afraid of COVID-19 and 14,1 also agreeing, implying the almost half of the respondents experiences anxiety. 47.1% reported being afraid to die COVID-19 and 35.2% struggling to sleep due to worrying about COVID-19. Although the PROMIS 10 scale reflect 64.4% and quality of life was reported to be high, the COPE scale highlight 2,8% used alcohol and durgs to cope, 3,5% used binge eating to cope. The majority reported more positive adaptive ways to cope such as eating healthy, taking break from social media, excircising and connecting with other people. The t-test result showed that there is no association between gender and the levels of anxiwty, irritability and depression, gender – females (M = 11.1869, SD = 8.6411) were not significantly different in level of irritability, anxiety and depression t(285) =0,527, P < .599 compared males (M = 10.7813, SD = 8.0366). The result implies that gender has no significant influence on anxiety, irritability and depression. Hypothesis three was rejected. The health system implementors in SA need to classify psychological treatment as essential to be as swiftly as general health response to improve the health and wellbeing for PLWH during COVID-19.M
ART, COVID-19, HIV, PLWH, South Africa, UCTD
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