What Works for Women and Girls

What Works—Care and Support: Women and Girls1. Continued counseling (either group or individual) for those who are HIV-positive andthose who are caregivers can relieve psychological distress.2. Peer support groups can be highly beneficial to women living with HIV.Promising Strategies:3. Linking outside assistance from home- and community-based care programs withhousehold care can be effective in meeting the needs of HIV/AIDS-affected families.4. Training men to provide voluntary home care assistance can ease the burden of homecare for women.5. Training young people to provide voluntary home care assistance can ease the burdenof home care for women.6. Home-based antiretroviral therapy may increase family support.7. Reducing stigma improves the quality of life for women living with HIV, particularlyregarding employment and schooling.EVIDENCE1. Continued counseling (either group or individual) for those who are HIV-positive canrelieve psychological distress.A cluster, randomized, controlled clinical trial conducted in “an impoverished part ofsouthwest Uganda that has been severely affected by the HIV epidemic” (Bolton etal., 2003: 3117) found that group interpersonal psychotherapy was highly efficaciousin reducing depression and dysfunction. The link between HIV and depression wasoutside the scope of this study, but will be the subject of a future study. Mean reductionin depression severity was 17.47 points for the intervention groups and 3.55 for controls.Mean reduction in dysfunction was 8.08 for the intervention groups and 3.76 for thecontrols. Following the intervention, only 6.5% of those in the intervention groups metthe criteria for major depression, compared to 54.7% of the control groups. Prior tothe intervention, 86% of the intervention group and 94% of the control group metthe criteria for major depression. The intervention villages received group interpersonalpsychotherapy for depression as weekly 90-minute sessions for 16 weeks. A localperson who had received two weeks of intensive training led groups. The group leaderreviewed each participant’s depressive symptoms. The participant was then encouragedto describe the week’s events and link these to symptoms. The group leader thenWHAT WORKS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS347