SYV: A Mental Health Intervention to Improve HIV Outcomes in Tanzanian Youth

Mental health is associated with ART adherence and HIV outcomes. SYV was designed to address the specific challenges of young people living (YPLWH) with HIV in Tanzania. SYV includes 10 group sessions (two sessions held jointly with caregivers) lasting approximately 90 minutes and two individual sessions delivered by trained young adult group leaders who use a manualized protocol that is designed to scale in low resource settings. The intervention is applied to the Social Action Theory (SAT), a theoretical framework used to determine factors that influence health behavior. Building off a SAT resilience framework for YPLWH, components of evidence-based treatment models to influence cognitive, self, and social regulation to improve behavioral health outcomes will be strategically used.