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The Prevalence of Common Mental Disorders Among South Africans Seeking HIV Testing

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Abstract

We administered the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM to 485 persons seeking HIV testing at five community testing centres in South Africa to determine the prevalence of common mental disorders among this population. The prevalence estimates for the various disorders were as follows: major depressive disorder: 14.2 % (95 % CI [11.1, 17.3]); generalised anxiety disorder 5.0 % (95 % CI [3.07, 6.93]); posttraumatic stress disorder 4.9 % (95 % CI [2.98, 6.82]); and alcohol use disorder 19.8 % (95 % CI [16.26, 23.34]). Our findings imply the need to research the integration of screening and referral trajectories in the context of voluntary HIV counselling and testing.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the National Research Foundation in South Africa (Grant Number 93515).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

    Ashraf Kagee, Wylene Saal, Laing De Villiers, Mpho Sefatsa & Jason Bantjes

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  1. Ashraf Kagee
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  2. Wylene Saal
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  3. Laing De Villiers
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Correspondence to Ashraf Kagee.

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The authors have no potential conflicts of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Kagee, A., Saal, W., De Villiers, L. et al. The Prevalence of Common Mental Disorders Among South Africans Seeking HIV Testing. AIDS Behav 21, 1511–1517 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-016-1428-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-016-1428-4

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