The protective role of religious coping in adolescents' responses to poverty and sexual decision-making in rural Kenya.

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2012-03-01

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Abstract

In this study, we explored how adolescents in rural Kenya apply religious coping in sexual decision-making in the context of high rates of poverty and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 adolescents. One-third (13) reported religious coping related to economic stress, HIV, or sexual decision-making; the majority (29) reported religious coping with these or other stressors. Adolescents reported praying for God to partner with them to engage in positive behaviors, praying for strength to resist unwanted behaviors, and passive strategies characterized by waiting for God to provide resources or protection from HIV. Adolescents in Sub-Saharan Africa may benefit from HIV prevention interventions that integrate and build upon their use of religious coping.

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10.1111/j.1532-7795.2011.00760.x

Publication Info

Puffer, Eve S, Melissa H Watt, Kathleen J Sikkema, Rose A Ogwang-Odhiambo and Sherryl A Broverman (2012). The protective role of religious coping in adolescents' responses to poverty and sexual decision-making in rural Kenya. J Res Adolesc, 22(1). pp. 1–7. 10.1111/j.1532-7795.2011.00760.x Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6069.

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Scholars@Duke

Puffer

Eve S. Puffer

Pamela and Jack Egan Associate Professor

Dr. Puffer is a global mental health researcher and a licensed clinical psychologist. Her research focuses on developing and evaluating integrated community-based interventions to promote child mental health, improve family functioning, and prevent HIV risk behavior. Her work includes studies with families with young children through those with adolescents, as well as with couples. She has conducted much of this work in rural Kenya and is an investigator on multiple studies of child mental health, family well-being, and parenting interventions in Thailand, Ethiopia, Liberia, South Sudan, and Iraq.

Among Dr. Puffer's primary collaborators are the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian organization, the Women's Institute for Secondary Education and Research in Kenya, and AMPATH, a consortium between North American medical schools and Moi University in Kenya.

Watt

Melissa Watt

Adjunct Associate Professor of Global Health

Dr. Watt's research focuses on understanding and addressing gender-specific health issues in sub-Saharan Africa, with specific attention to HIV, substance use and mental health. In Tanzania, she currently leads an implementation science study aimed at improving access to long-term antiretroviral therapy for pregnant women with HIV. In South Africa, she is collaborating with Dr. Kathleen Sikkema on a study to support HIV care engagement in the context of sexual trauma. In Ghana, she is supporting a team of DGHI graduate students in Global Health to examine the impact of community health workers on the uptake of family planning. Completed research includes the development and evaluation of mental health treatment for women with obstetric fistula in Tanzania, prevention of alcohol-exposed pregnancies in South Africa, and understanding HIV risk behaviors among individuals who use methamphetamine in South Africa.

Dr. Watt directs the Master of Science in Global Health at DGHI and serves as the Associate Director for the Social and Behavioral Sciences Core of the Duke Center for AIDS Research. She has a Ph.D. in Health Behavior from the University of North Carolina, and an M.A. in Gender and Development from the University of Sussex in the U.K.

Broverman

Sherryl A. Broverman

Professor of the Practice of Biology

How inclusion of civic issues, international connections, and social engagement alters the cognitive and affective responses of non- major science students to science education. Developing inclusive course content and structure. Interventions that improve education and positive mental health and reduce HIV risk for adolescent girls in rural Kenya.  www.wisergirls.org


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