Commentary: pediatric psychology research informing policy for AIDS-affected youth in Africa.
Commentary: pediatric psychology research informing policy for AIDS-affected youth in Africa.
复制标题
评论：儿科心理学研究为非洲受艾滋病影响的青少年制定政策提供信息。
DOI：
10.1093/jpepsy/jss073
复制
发表时间：
2012
影响因子：
3.6
通讯作者：
Hadley,Wendy
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Houck,ChristopherD;Hadley,Wendy
Two articles in this issue of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology (JPP) address the impact of HIV/AIDS on children and adolescents in Africa (Cluver et al, in press; Puffer et al., in press), where the AIDS epidemic continues to take a costly toll on families. In Kenya 6.3% of the population has HIV (1.5 million individuals) and these numbers climb in South Africa, where 17.8% of people live with HIV (5.6 million people)(Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, 2010). These papers represent important work in the area of pediatric psychology and warrant attention both from researchers in the area of HIV/AIDS and from the field as a whole. As such, we would like to praise some of the unique strengths that these articles contribute to this area of inquiry as well as highlight the importance of these efforts to the field and pediatric psychology in general. Specifically, these works are excellent examples of the importance of working with populations that can be difficult to access, the necessity of considering the cultural framework of research populations, and the potential for connecting research to policy in meaningful ways.The authors of both studies should be commended for the work presented here. There are relatively few published studies related to families affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa because of the numerous challenges inherent in executing such work. Both studies presented in this issue used methods designed to obtain a representative sample, no easy task in research with vulnerable populations. Obtaining approvals to work with vulnerable youth can be challenging, and designing studies such that communities will be interested and willing to participate is critical to success. Furthermore, Cluver and colleagues conducted longitudinal tracking of orphans, noting challenges due to settlements being destroyed and children living in transient housing and other dangerous living situations. To
