<p> Nearly 720,000 youth, ages 15 to 24, are living with HIV in South Africa. Black South African adolescents remain disproportionately impacted by HIV and face challenges to their development including issues of stigma, trauma, orphanhood and bereavement, increased poverty, and medication adherence and disclosure challenges. The majority of research on adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV) has only documented negative health outcomes and psychological distress. This study used a mixed methods approach to explore the factors that help South African ALHIV effectively cope with the adversities that they face and that contribute to their well-being and resilience. Participants included adolescents (<i>N</i>=7) from the Katlehong township in the Gauteng province, their primary caregivers (<i>N</i>=6), and their mental health providers (<i>N</i>=3). Photovoice was used to engage the adolescents in a process of taking photographs that represented how they cope with HIV and resources that contribute to their well-being. Adolescents also completed the <i>Child and Youth Resilience Measure-28 </i> to assess overall resilience and their access to ecological resources. To gain an additional perspective, caregivers were surveyed and mental health providers were interviewed. The study found that adolescents had access to protective factors and resources, across the ecological framework, which promoted psychological well-being and resilience. The protective factors were identified at the individual level (self-care, independence, being informed about HIV, and individual peer support), at the interpersonal level (family support), and at the community and contextual level (community support and finding purpose and belonging).</p><p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10634289 |
| Date | 15 September 2017 |
| Creators | Rosenbaum, Lacey |
| Publisher | The Chicago School of Professional Psychology |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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