TY - JOUR
T1 - Suicide risk and mental health indicators
T2 - Do they differ by abuse and HIV status?
AU - Gielen, Andrea Carlson
AU - McDonnell, Karen A.
AU - O'Campo, Patricia J.
AU - Burke, Jessica Griffin
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors wish to acknowledge and thank the participating recruitment sites and women who gave us their time and insights, and Mary Garza, Elizabeth Tyler, Vivian Tyler, Molene Martin, Suzanne Maman, Pamela Fischer, Mary McCaul, and Jacqueline Campbell for their contributions to this research. Portions of this paper were presented at the XIV International AIDS Conference, Barcelona Spain, 2002. This study was supported by Grant #2RO1MH53821 from the National Institutes of Mental Health.
PY - 2005
Y1 - 2005
N2 - Purpose: This study examines the association between women's HIV serostatus, intimate partner violence (IPV) experience, and risk of suicide and other mental health indicators. Using data from Project WAVE (Women, AIDS, and the Violence Epidemic), we 1) describe the rates of suicidal thoughts and attempts, anxiety, and depression; 2) examine whether and to what extent these outcomes differ by women's HIV and IPV status. Methods: A one-time interview was conducted with a sample 611 women living in an urban area, one-half of whom were HIV-positive. Results: Having thought about suicide was reported by 31% of the sample and 16% reported having attempted suicide. Among HIV-positive women, thoughts of suicide occurred more frequently among those who were recently diagnosed. One-half of the sample reported problems with depression, and 26% reported problems with anxiety; of women reporting these problems, 56% received mental health treatment. Rates varied significantly by HIV and IPV status, with women who were both HIV-positive and abused consistently faring worse. Relative to HIV-negative nonabused women, HIV-positive abused women were 7.0 times as likely to report problems with depression, 4.9 times as likely to report problems with anxiety, 3.6 times as likely to have thought about suicide, and 12.5 times as likely to have ever attempted suicide. Our findings that abused HIV-negative women were also at significantly elevated risk for all of these outcomes lends support to the conclusion that it is the experience of abuse that is associated with the negative outcomes. Conclusions: Health care and service providers interacting with women who may be HIV-positive and/or in abusive relationships should routinely assess for mental health status, especially suicide risk, which may need crisis intervention.
AB - Purpose: This study examines the association between women's HIV serostatus, intimate partner violence (IPV) experience, and risk of suicide and other mental health indicators. Using data from Project WAVE (Women, AIDS, and the Violence Epidemic), we 1) describe the rates of suicidal thoughts and attempts, anxiety, and depression; 2) examine whether and to what extent these outcomes differ by women's HIV and IPV status. Methods: A one-time interview was conducted with a sample 611 women living in an urban area, one-half of whom were HIV-positive. Results: Having thought about suicide was reported by 31% of the sample and 16% reported having attempted suicide. Among HIV-positive women, thoughts of suicide occurred more frequently among those who were recently diagnosed. One-half of the sample reported problems with depression, and 26% reported problems with anxiety; of women reporting these problems, 56% received mental health treatment. Rates varied significantly by HIV and IPV status, with women who were both HIV-positive and abused consistently faring worse. Relative to HIV-negative nonabused women, HIV-positive abused women were 7.0 times as likely to report problems with depression, 4.9 times as likely to report problems with anxiety, 3.6 times as likely to have thought about suicide, and 12.5 times as likely to have ever attempted suicide. Our findings that abused HIV-negative women were also at significantly elevated risk for all of these outcomes lends support to the conclusion that it is the experience of abuse that is associated with the negative outcomes. Conclusions: Health care and service providers interacting with women who may be HIV-positive and/or in abusive relationships should routinely assess for mental health status, especially suicide risk, which may need crisis intervention.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.whi.2004.12.004
DO - 10.1016/j.whi.2004.12.004
M3 - Article
C2 - 15767199
AN - SCOPUS:14844356470
SN - 1049-3867
VL - 15
SP - 89
EP - 95
JO - Women's Health Issues
JF - Women's Health Issues
IS - 2
ER -