{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T22:26:38Z","timestamp":1790115998267,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,28]],"date-time":"2025-01-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1738022400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Fogarty International Center and the National Institute of Mental Health","award":["K01 TW-009985"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["K01 TW-009985"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000025","name":"National Institute of Mental Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["R01 MH124476"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01 MH124476"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000025","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Fogarty International Center and the National Institute of Mental Health","award":["R25 TW009337"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R25 TW009337"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100006967","name":"Center for AIDS Research, Duke University","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["P30 AI064518"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["P30 AI064518"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100006967","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100006967","name":"Center for AIDS Research, Duke University","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["P30 AI064518"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["P30 AI064518"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100006967","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Youth living with HIV (YLWH) face psychosocial challenges and HIV-related stigma, which impact adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART). This study was designed to understand better the change in mental health symptoms and experiences with stigma among YLWH in Tanzania who completed the original pilot\n                    <jats:italic>Sauti ya Vijana<\/jats:italic>\n                    (\n                    <jats:italic>SYV<\/jats:italic>\n                    ), a mental health and life skills group intervention. YLWH who completed\n                    <jats:italic>SYV<\/jats:italic>\n                    and demonstrated a change of \u22652 points in either direction on their Patient Health Questionnaire PHQ-9 (depression screener) from baseline to 18 months were purposively sampled. HIV Stigma was measured using 10-questions from the Berger HIV Stigma Scale, and findings ranged from 4\u201316 for internal stigma and 6\u201324 for external stigma. In-depth interviews (IDI) were conducted in Kiswahili and included topics such as history of mental health challenges, perceptions of stigma, and experiences with the\n                    <jats:italic>SYV<\/jats:italic>\n                    intervention. Interviews were transcribed, translated to English, and analyzed for emergent themes. Ten youth, 18\u201325 years of age, were interviewed; 70% were male. Mean (SD) PHQ-9 scores were 7.3 (SD = 3.5) at baseline and 5.6 (SD = 5.0) at 18 months. All participants reported experiencing intermittent episodes of mental health challenges due to difficult interpersonal relationships and fear of stigma. Youth relied on peer support and skills from the\n                    <jats:italic>SYV<\/jats:italic>\n                    intervention to cope with mental health challenges and stigma. Participants reported fear of being stigmatized by others, which led to behaviors such as skipping medication or avoiding situations for worry about unintentional disclosure. All participants endorsed experiencing external stigma on the HIV stigma scale; however, only 3 of 10 participants reported experiencing enacted stigma when directly asked to describe an experience during in-depth interviews. Participants described how\n                    <jats:italic>SYV<\/jats:italic>\n                    helped them have \u201cmore confidence\u201d, accept themselves, and incorporate positive coping skills such as relaxation (deep breathing) when they felt stressed. The findings suggest\n                    <jats:italic>SYV<\/jats:italic>\n                    helped YLWH accept themselves, develop positive coping methods, and identify and form peer social support; but stigma remains common. Descriptions of stigma were not recognized as such; experiences of enacted stigma were acknowledged by some participants. More research is needed to understand and measure mental distress and wellness as well as stigma in this population so that interventions may more accurately detect change in key outcomes.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0318035","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,28]],"date-time":"2025-01-28T13:29:27Z","timestamp":1738070967000},"page":"e0318035","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Mental health challenges and perceptions of stigma among youth living with HIV in Tanzania"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7402-481X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Laura S.","family":"Mkumba","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fortunata","family":"Nasuwa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Blandina T.","family":"Mmbaga","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aisa M.","family":"Shayo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Coleen K.","family":"Cunningham","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Karen E.","family":"O\u2019Donnell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dorothy E.","family":"Dow","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0318035.ref001","unstructured":"UNAIDS. 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