Representation of HIV/Aids and Mental Health Co-Morbidity in Medical and Social Sciences Literature

Abstract

Introduction:

Aim of this article is to explore the ways in which, over the last 25 years, knowledge about HIV/Aids and Mental Health co-morbidity has been represented within medical and social sciences literature.

Methods:

The study has been conducted on the texts of 1101 published manuscripts abstracts within from 1984 to 2008, referring to 379 different journals and retrieved on PUBMED database. It was used the following database search string: ("mental health"[Title/Abstract]) or ("mental illness"[Title/Abstract]) AND (("aids"[Title/Abstract]) or ("hiv"[Title/Abstract]))). A Computer Aided Text Analysis was conducted with dedicated software: T-Lab (Lancia) using Cluster Analysis.

Results:

Cluster Analysis allowed to identify five different main dimensions: 1:(27,68%) Health-care Service organizational development; 2: (22,10%) Mental health as empowering precursor of infection risks. 3: (8,58%) Quality of life; 4: (19,17%). Therapies and treatments’ research; 5: (22,46%) Psychological issues, emotions and distress correlated to seropositive patients and their caregivers. Figure 1 it is a way to outline the five clusters literature trends over the time of 25 years.

Conclusions:

Our review could help to identify particular areas in need of change, to provide a baseline against which to assess future changes and to provide data for use in research health planning and policy analysis.