“I Can Still Be Happy, I Can Still Get My Life Again”: Psychological Interventions with Children, Young People and Families Living with HIV in the United Kingdom

The advances in HIV treatment over the last 20 years have changed the lives of many people living with HIV. However, Black African families In the United Kingdom continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV infection. We explore the historical reasons for this and explain the context in which health services responded to the particular needs of this population. We discuss the psychological challenges faced by children, young people and their families and describe interventions aimed at supporting them to effectively face the multiple challenges of coping with HIV. We propose that HIV stigma underpins many of the difficulties both adults and young people have with regard to effective coping and we suggest that the negative effects of stigma needs to be more actively addressed by clinicians. Issues with regard to adherence to antiretroviral medication are common especially amongst adolescents and we suggest that clinicians should expect this and can prepare more effectively in advance to minimize the negative impact on long-term health. Finally, we discuss that although young people with HIV ideally require psycho-social interventions to help them cope effectively with a life-long condition such an approach is largely confined to resource rich countries. The majority of people with HIV live in resource poorer environments and our challenge will be to extend and apply our learning about effective interventions to these contexts.