REACH Study Finds Social Support Eases Depression in Adolescents with HIV

A survey by the Researching for Excellence in Adolescent Care and Health project, published in the December issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, showed that "social support and adaptive coping ease depression" in HIV-positive adolescents, but do not allay anxiety, AIDS Weekly reports. The REACH project, a "large-scale disease progression study of HIV-positive adolescents" who contracted the virus through sexual contact or intravenous drug use, studied 230 adolescents in 13 American cities. Life events such as family financial problems, parental alcohol abuse and being prescribed medicine "triggered" depression and anxiety, with the prescription of medication being "particular[ly]" stressful to 74% of respondents (AIDS Weekly, 1/22).