MOAC0103 | EFFECTIVENESS OF PHONE-BASED PSYCHOEDUCATION ON MENTAL HEALTH OUTCOME AMONG PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV IN SOUTHWEST NIGERIAN HOSPITALS

Morufat Alabi, Professor Prisca Adejumo, Adeyinka Ishola, Adesola Ogunniyi, Babafemi Taiwo | ¹University Of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria; ²Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Ill., USA

Psychological distress and suicidality among people living with HIV (PLWH) are major public health challenges. Nigeria has one of the highest global HIV rates. Despite the need for psychological support, barriers like distance to treatment centers and scarcity of mental health professionals limit access to care. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a nurse-led mobile phone psychoeducation intervention to reduce mental health outcomes among PWH in two tertiary hospitals in Southwest Nigeria. A quasi-experimental wait-list design was conducted among PLWH. A three-stage sampling technique was used to select two states (out of six), two Infectious Disease Institutes (IDI) (out of three), while 100 PLWH were recruited in each IDI. These IDIs were randomly allocated to Intervention Group (IG) and Control Group (CG). Mental health outcomes were assessed using: Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (>20 indicating psychological distress); Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (>8 suggesting suicide risk). After baseline assessment (P₀), IG received nine weeks of nurse-led HIV psychoeducation via 15-minute weekly telephone sessions, while the CG received standard care. Follow-up assessments occurred at two weeks (P1) and three months (P2) post-intervention. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, the chi-square test, and mixed-effects logistic regression at α0.05 The participants’ age were 47.06±13.13 (IG) and 46.9±11.78 years (CG). Psychological distress was 64% in IG and 49% in CG at baseline. At P1, it declined in IG to 13% but increased in CG to 53%. By P2, psychological distress decreased in IG to 5%, while it remained high in CG at 50%. Suicidality in IG decreased from 53% at baseline to 9% at P1 and 4% at P2, whereas in CG, it decreased slightly from 44% at baseline to 39% at P1 and remained unchanged at P2. In IG, psychological functioning did not improve significantly at P1 and P2, whereas suicide risk showed a significant reduction at both time points. Participants in IG demonstrated a reduction in psychological distress (OR = 2.15, 95% CI: 0.47–9.68), but the effect was not significant. However, they had significantly lower odds of suicidality (OR = 0.26, 95% CI: 0.12–0.58). The psychoeducation intervention significantly improved mental health outcomes, supporting its integration into routine HIV care.