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Greetings from the ICHAD and SMART Africa Teams!
World Mental Health Day was this month and in support of this important topic, the ICHAD and SMART Africa teams continue to push for evidence-based mental health programing. Our Researcher
Resiliency Team (RRT) including Directors Mary McKay, Fred Ssewamala and Sean Joe, as well as RRT Alumni Leslie Adams and Proscovia Nabunya presented to the National Institute of Mental Health’s Global Mental Health Team about how the RRT training
program helped build resilience in part due to supportive teams to help trainees succeed as researchers of color representing both the global north and global south.
You can also learn more about the important research the ICHAD team is conducting to address stigma amongst youth living with HIV through our Suubi4Stigma
study below.
The ICHAD and SMART Africa Teams
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Research Spotlight
Suubi4Stigma
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Adolescents participate in a Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Session
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Suubi4Stigma study examines the
feasibility, acceptability and preliminary impact of two evidence-based interventions, Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (G-CBT) and Multiple Family Group (MFG), to address HIV/AIDS associated stigma among adolescents (aged 10-14 years) living with HIV in
Uganda.
In collaboration with nine health clinics located in four geopolitical districts in the greater Masaka region of Uganda, the team successfully recruited 99% (N= 89 child-caregiver dyads)
out of the expected 90 dyads. All dyads recruited into the study completed baseline assessments. In addition, 17 selected dyads completed in-depth interviews to assess their experiences with HIV-related stigma and how it has impacted their wellbeing and family
functioning, prior to the intervention.
Earlier in June, the team embarked on delivering the two study interventions (G-CBT and MFG) to participants in the six health clinics randomized in the two treatment arms (n=3 clinics
per arm). Sessions were delivered by community health care workers trained in the delivery of MFG, and trained counselors currently working with adolescents and young people living with HIV in the study region. We are happy to report that delivery of intervention
sessions was completed last month, with attendance rates of over 90% per clinic. The team is currently gearing up for post intervention assessments to begin early next month! Congratulations to our Suubi4Stigma team on these accomplishments -all in the middle
of a pandemic!!
You can read more about the study here.
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Training Program Applications Open: November 1
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ICHAD’s research training programs – CHILD-Global
Research Fellowship, LEAD Global Training Program, and Researcher
Resilience Training Program – support early career researchers in domestic and global mental health, health disparities, and HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and Sub-Saharan Africa to become independent investigators and leaders of multidisciplinary teams in
resource-limited settings. Applications for these programs open on November 1. Please visit each program’s website for program and application eligibility and information. The application deadline is January 10, 2022.
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Recent Publications
“Pediatric, adolescent, and young adult cancer in an HIV-infected rural sub-Saharan African population” AIDS
Care. Johnson, K. J., Sensoy Bahar, O., Nattabi, J., Migadde, H., Ssentumbwe, V., Damulira, C., Kivumbi, A., Niyonzima, N., & Ssewamala, F. M.
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Recent Poster Presentations
“A multiple family group-based intervention (SMART-Africa) to promote child and adolescent mental health in Uganda: A costing study” APHA's
2021 Annual Meeting and Expo, October 24-27, 2021, Denver Colorado
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Upcoming Poster Presentations
“Engaging vulnerable women engaged in commercial sex in the implementation of an HIV risk reduction intervention in Southern Uganda” The
16th International Conference on HIV Treatment and Prevention Adherence, November 7-9, 2021, Orlando, Florida
“Self-reported adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) among women engaged in commercial sex work in Southern Uganda” The
16th International Conference on HIV Treatment and Prevention Adherence, November 7-9, 2021, Orlando, Florida
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Social Corner
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Congratulations and a big thank you to ICHAD's Associate Director, Betsy Abente and Study Coordinator Wilberforce Tumwesige who are both moving on to new positions at Washington University's
Medical School! You will both be missed!
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