In your response post, comment on at least one of your colleague’s results section. Please give positive and constructive feedback. As much as possible, provide your colleague with concrete recommendations for improvement. Compare and contrast your actual results, your results section narrative, and your table, figures, and graphs (if applicable), paying special attention to the accuracy of the results and the visual representation.
Post::: Quantitative data was taken from 423 patients;263 living with HIV and 160 with an unknown status or currently not taking ART in Wakiso District, Uganda.1 To be eligible for the quantitative study, participants must have been on ART for more than one year.1 Participants were selected from ART delivery sites in the Wakiso District; participants from the HIV clinic at the government hospital in Entebbe, three level 3 government health centers and the Entebbe branch of the AIDS Support Organization (TASO). A list of eligible patients was compiled from each facility using patient files. 263 PLWH and on ART for more than one year were selected randomly.1 A systematic random sample was taken using set intervals and any participants that were participating in the qualitative part of the study were excluded. 160 control participants were also randomly selected from the general population in nearby villages stratified by gender, using resident lists from communities that were a part of an earlier MRC/UVRI study.1 Data was compiled using STATA to evaluate the “G” series of questions regarding mental status with HIV.1 These questions included how the patient felt regarding energy, blaming themselves, crying easily, poor appetite, difficulty sleeping, feelings of hopelessness, sadness, lonely, thought about ending their life, feeling trapped, worrying to much, feeling disinterested and feeling worthless.1
Through content analysis for qualitative data, interviews were reviewed, and common themes, codes and categories were evaluated. The themes most related to the research question of HIV status and depression were ARV status, financial situation, nutrition, support, community acceptance and mental acceptance/coping. These themes were important in order to create cohesiveness through the multiple interviews and be able to compile data from each qualitative interview to gain insight on how each person was mentally dealing with HIV diagnosis through those multiple themes. These included needing support from families and support in groups, needing monetary support, and their own mental acceptance. A study by M. Bhatia and S. Munjal found that depression with HIV patients had a prevalence of 58.75%.2 The unemployed, uneducated, unmarried, with low income, and poor social support showed a higher prevalence of depression.2 This directly reflects my findings in the qualitative analysis through interviews.
REFERENCES:
Russell S. Life on antiretroviral therapy: People’s adaptive coping and adjustment to living with HIV as a chronic condition in Wakiso District, Uganda. ReShare. https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/851094/. Accessed July 14, 2021.
Bhatia MS, Munjal S. Prevalence of Depression in People Living with HIV/AIDS Undergoing ART and Factors Associated with it. J Clin Diagn Res. 2014;8(10):WC01-WC4. doi:10.7860/JCDR/2014/7725.4927
