Depressive Symptoms in Spouses of HIV Infected Individuals: A Study of HIV Uninfected Caregivers in Pune, India

Manisha V. Ghate^1*, Thomas D. Marcotte², Hrishikesh D. Rangnekar³, Rachel Meyer², Maiko Sakamoto², Sanjay M. Mehendale⁴

¹National AIDS Research Institute, Pune, India.
²HIV Neurobehavioral Research Program, UCSD, San Diego, USA.
³Biosensors International Limited, Pune, India.
⁴National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, India.

DOI: 10.4236/ojpsych.2015.51001                

Abstract

Background: HIV infected individuals are at increased risk of developing psychiatric comorbidities, particularly depression. Coping with a disease associated with significant morbidity, mortality and financial stress is likely to result in psychiatric morbidity even among caregivers, especially family members. However, there is scarcity of such data in HIV uninfected caregiver spouses. Material and Methods: Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), a diagnostic tool that measures depressive symptoms, was administered to HIV uninfected caregiver spouses of HIV infected individuals (n = 55) and HIV seronegative individuals from general population (n = 63) with similar demographic profile. Chisquare test was used for categorical data. Results: Caregiver spouses exhibited higher depressive symptoms on the BDI-II (mean score 5.25 vs. 3.03; p = 0.029) as compared to others. The scores tended to be higher on the majority of the items, with sadness (p = 0.032), punishment feeling (p = 0.024) and crying (p = 0.037) being statistically significant. Conclusions: Our results indicate that it is important to address the mental health needs of the spouses of HIV infected individuals as they may play a major role in their care and support in the Indian contex

Keywords

HIV, Spouses, Depression

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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