EFFECT OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY ON CLINICAL DEPRESSION, ART ADHERENCE AND HIV STIGMA AMONG HIV-INFECTED OUTPATIENTS IN UASIN-GISHU COUNTY, KENYA

Recent statistics indicate that HIV infection prevalence in Kenya is at 5.6 percent. Of note, HIV infection is commonly known for its tendency to present with comorbid conditions including neuropsychiatric disorders. Within this spectrum, depression, which is a mood disorder, is the most common neuropsychiatric disorder among persons living with HIV (PLHIV) occurring at rates 2 to 3 times higher than in HIV-negative persons. Depression contributes significantly to poor health outcomes among HIV-infected individuals by accelerating HIV progression. Evidently, depression has been associated with HIV-related stigma and non-adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) among PLHIV. However, proper recognition, timely diagnosis and treatment of depression among HIV-infected outpatients in Kenya remain low key. Most importantly, there is substantial evidence to support the use of psychotherapy and in particular Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) in the management of depression among PLHIV across diverse settings. The purpose of this study was. to investigate the effect of CBT on depression, ART adherence and HIV stigma among HIV infected outpatients in Turbo-Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. An experimental pretest/posttest control group design was adopted in this study, with CBT as the intervention in the experimental condition. The population of this study was 3000 HIV-infected adults attending Turbo Sub-County Hospital. A systematic random sampling was used to obtain an original sample size of 393 which was further subjected to eligibility criteria yielding 53 participants among whom 45 successfully completed the study against the desired powered sample size of 44. All participants were randomly assigned to either treatment or control conditions of the study in the ratio of 1:1.