Sex, drugs and AIDS: Issues for hospitalized emotionally disturbed youth

Abstract

Children and youth with serious and persistent emotional disturbances are becoming increasingly more at risk for HIV transmission, particularly when considering the high incidence of child sexual abuse by infected adults among the impoverished, urban population. Brief psychiatric hospitalization affords an opportunity to empower the child victims and reduce risk behaviors in general. An inpatient program for youth is described with an emphasis on "taking care of yourself." High impact teaching methods such as role playing, competency training and raising self efficacy are discussed as critical elements of brief therapeutic interventions.

Associations Between Psychiatric Impairment and Sexual Risk Behavior Among Teens in Mental Health Treatment

“…Although the two samples displayed differential patterns in regard to the influence of psychiatric impairment, the relationships with perceived peer norms were consistent. Specifically, perceived peer norms was the only variable across both groups that showed consistent relationships with both psychiatric impairment and sexual risk attitudes supporting previous studies demonstrating the strong influence of peers on risk attitudes and behaviors (Bryan, Rocheleau, Robbins, & Hutchinson, 2005; Chein, Albert, O’Brien, Uckert, & Steinberg, 2011; Gardner & Steinberg, 2005), especially for youth with mental health symptoms (DiScipio, 1994). These findings highlight that perceptions of peer norms should be included in any sexual risk reduction intervention and provide additional support for using group based interventions to target adolescent perceptions of peer beliefs about condoms.…”

“…Donenberg, et al, 2001) and this project extends these findings in the largest and most diverse group of youth in mental health treatment studied to date. As hypothesized, adolescent psychiatric impairment was associated with personal and peer factors that have been previously linked to adolescents’ sexual risk behavior (Brown, et al, 1997; DiScipio, 1994). However, contrary to our hypothesis impairment functioned differently across the sexually active vs. non-active groups, despite similar levels of psychiatric impairment.…”

Sexual risk among African American girls seeking psychiatric care: A social-personal framework.

“…Evidence supports the role of poor mental health in adolescent high-risk sexual activity (Brown, Danovsky, Lourie, DiClemente, & Ponton, 1997) and biologically confirmed sexually transmitted infections (STIs; Seth, Raiji, DiClemente, Wingood, & Rose, 2009). Adolescents with mental health problems engage in the same risk behaviors as their peers but at higher rates (Brown et al, 1997; Di Scipio, 1994); they initiate sex at earlier ages, are more likely to be sexually active and have multiple partners, and less likely to use condoms (Brown et al, 1997; Donenberg et al, 2001; Donenberg & Pao, 2005). Externalizing problems (aggression, delinquency, conduct disorders; Donenberg et al, 2001; Javdani, Sadeh, & Verona, 2011) are consistently related to adolescent sexual behavior, whereas links with internalizing symptoms (depression, anxiety) are mixed.…”

The Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Psychological Distress Among Women in New Zealand

“…This inconsistency may be partially attributable to the fact that the Romans-Clarkson et al sample was drawn from Dunedin, a city in the South Island of New Zealand that is relatively untroubled by crime and has well developed health and welfare services. The urbanresiding individuals in the present study may be more representative of the population given that they were drawn from the major urban centers across the whole of New Zealand, and demonstrated systematic differences to their rural counterparts as in previous studies (Di Scipio, 1994;Wingood & DiClemente, 1997).…”