Changes in behavioral outcomes among children affected by HIV: Results of a randomized controlled trial in China

Abstract

This study assessed the effects of a multilevel intervention on HIV-affected children's negative behaviors. A total of 536 children aged 6-18 years from 475 HIV-affected families in Anhui, China, participated in the randomized controlled trial. A significant overall intervention effect on reducing negative behaviors was observed at 18-month follow-up, and the effect remained at 24-month follow-up. The intervention showed greater effects for children aged 13-18 years than those aged 6-12 years. Study findings suggest that a multilevel intervention approach could be beneficial for reducing negative behavior in HIV-affected children. Age-specific programs should be considered to maximize the intervention effects.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01762553.

Keywords: HIV; children; family; intervention; negative behaviors.

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.

Flow of study participants.

Figure 2.

Reductions in negative behaviors over time for all children (a), adjusted means (with SEs) of negative behaviors over time for older (b) and younger age group (c). *p-value < 0.05.