Peer-led interventions: Exploring the peer group leader experience of delivering Sauti ya Vijana, a group-based mental health intervention for youth living with HIV in Tanzania.
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2026-01
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Abstract
Youth living with HIV (YLWH) face mental health challenges which negatively influence their adherence to antiretroviral medication and HIV outcomes. In Sub-Saharan Africa, where the majority of YLWH reside, there are few mental health professionals. Task-shifting interventions to lay peer leaders may be an effective strategy for addressing mental health challenges. This study aims to understand and evaluate peer group leaders' experiences delivering a peer-led, group-based mental health intervention called The Voice of Youth (Sauti ya Vijana [SYV] in Swahili) to YLWH in Tanzania. Peer group leaders (PGLs) aged 23-29 years at the time of hire and living with HIV were trained to deliver SYV. The study took place across four regions in Tanzania. In depth interviews (IDIs) (N = 25) were conducted in 2023 with PGLs after delivering the scaled pilot test of SYV. IDIs were audio-recorded in Swahili and translated and transcribed into English. Thematic analysis was applied using NVivo for coding and Excel to further summarize data and identify themes. PGLs experiences are organized via two CFIR domains:.Individuals Involved and Inner Setting. Under the Individuals Involved domain, PGLs described motivations such as a desire to help youth, increased confidence, and shared personal growth, as well as emotional challenges related to youth trauma, and how they thought community members perceived them. Within the Inner Setting domain, PGLs highlighted collaboration and collegial support alongside challenges related to social dynamics, compensation, and supervision. Across themes, PGLs emphasized sustainability, offering recommendations to strengthen program expansion and long-term impact. Insights from the PGLs can help enhance and position SYV for sustainability as Tanzania navigates scaling mental health care YLWH and also inform other peer-led mental health interventions in low-resource contexts.
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Agina, Chinenye, Fortunata Nasuwa, Justina Mosha, Nasra Abdul, Erica Sanga, Leila Samson, Liness Amos Ndelwa, Blandina T Mmbaga, et al. (2026). Peer-led interventions: Exploring the peer group leader experience of delivering Sauti ya Vijana, a group-based mental health intervention for youth living with HIV in Tanzania. PLOS mental health, 3(1). p. e0000512. 10.1371/journal.pmen.0000512 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/34235.
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Dorothy Elizabeth Dow
Dorothy Dow, MD, MSc is Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Research Professor at the Duke Global Health Institute. Dr. Dow’s research focuses on prevention and treatment of HIV in pediatric populations including prevention of mother-to-child transmission and a focus on adolescent and young adult populations. Dr. Dow is co-director of the Duke Center for AIDS Research Clinical Core, chair of IMPAACT Network Protocol 2016 and a member of the AHISA network. She is co-site leader of the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre-Duke University Collaboration where she works nearly full time in Moshi, Tanzania, though returns to Duke University Medical Center two-weeks two to three times per year to provide clinical care on the general pediatric infectious diseases inpatient consult service.
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