Comparing the Effects of Group and Individual Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Depressive Symptoms Among HIV-Positive Adults at Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jos.

Background: Depression is a mental health problem that has been associated with non-adherence to antiretroviral drugs and is also a major barrier to HIV preventive efforts. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) as a non-drug treatment for the management of depression has been documented but there are limited studies comparing the effect of group and individual formats of CBT on depression levels among HIV-infected population in this setting. Objectives: The objective of this study was to compare the effect of group versus individual CBT on depression scores among a cross section of HIV infected patients attending the adult ART clinic of Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jos. Method: This study was a hospital based randomized control study comprising, 30 depressed patients randomly assigned to the Group and Individual arms of the study. This was done using a computer-generated table of random numbers. The Group arm was offered CBT in group format while the Individual arm was offered CBT on individual basis. They had one session every month for three months. Data was collected using the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). To maintain the fidelity of the sessions the CBT sessions were done using a manual by Steven Safren. Ethical approval was obtained and informed consent was secured. Two participants dropped from the study. The data of 28 participants who completed the study was analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Result: Within the Group, both the intervention arm (Z = -3.446, p = 0.001) and control arm (Z = -2.913, p = 0.004) showed statistically significant difference. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the change in the mean PHQ-9 scores of the two groups (Z= -0.154, p= 0.607). Conclusion: With caution to the small size of the sample, there was no statistically significant difference between the effects of group versus individual CBT in the reduction of depression among people living with HIV (PLWHIV), hence, CBT in the group format is advocated in the ever-busy adult HIV clinic.