IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0029748.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sexual Risk Behaviours and Sexual Abuse in Persons with Severe Mental Illness in Uganda: A Qualitative Study

Author

Listed:
  • Patric Lundberg
  • Eva Johansson
  • Elialilia Okello
  • Peter Allebeck
  • Anna Thorson

Abstract

Persons with severe mental illness (SMI) engage in risky sexual behaviours and have high prevalence of HIV in high-income countries. Little is known about sexual behaviours and HIV risk among persons with SMI in sub-Saharan Africa. In this qualitative study we explored how SMI may influence sexual risk behaviours and sexual health risks in Uganda. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 7 male and 13 female psychiatric patients aged 18–49 years. Participants were interviewed in hospital when clinically stable and capable of giving informed consent. Interview transcripts were analysed using manifest content analysis, generating the categories: (1) casual sex during illness episodes, (2) rape by non-partners, (3) exploitation by partners, (4) non-monogamous partners, and (5) sexual inactivity. Our findings suggest that SMI exacerbated sexual vulnerability in the women interviewed, by contributing to casual sex, to exploitative and non-monogamous sexual relationships, and to sexual assault by non-partners. No link could be established between SMI and increased sexual risk behaviours in the men interviewed, due to a small sample of men, and given that men's accounts showed little variability. Our findings also suggest that SMI caused sexual inactivity due to decreased sexual desire, and in men, due to difficulties forming an intimate relationship. Overall, our study highlights how SMI and gender inequality can contribute to the shaping of sexual risk behaviours and sexual health risks, including HIV risk, among persons with SMI in this Ugandan setting.

Suggested Citation

  • Patric Lundberg & Eva Johansson & Elialilia Okello & Peter Allebeck & Anna Thorson, 2012. "Sexual Risk Behaviours and Sexual Abuse in Persons with Severe Mental Illness in Uganda: A Qualitative Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(1), pages 1-8, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0029748
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029748
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0029748
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0029748&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0029748?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wainberg, Milton L. & Alfredo González, M. & McKinnon, Karen & Elkington, Katherine S. & Pinto, Diana & Gruber Mann, Claudio & Mattos, Paulo E., 2007. "Targeted ethnography as a critical step to inform cultural adaptations of HIV prevention interventions for adults with severe mental illness," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 296-308, July.
    2. Koenig, Michael A. & Lutalo, Tom & Zhao, Feng & Nalugoda, Fred & Kiwanuka, Noah & Wabwire-Mangen, Fred & Kigozi, Godfrey & Sewankambo, Nelson & Wagman, Jennifer & Serwadda, David & Wawer, Maria & Gray, 2004. "Coercive sex in rural Uganda: Prevalence and associated risk factors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 787-798, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jianing Ren & Xinran Qi & Wenzhen Cao & Zhicheng Wang & Yueping Guo & Junjian Gaoshan & Xiao Liang & Kun Tang, 2022. "Early Sexual Initiation Is Associated with Suicide Attempts among Chinese Young People," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-12, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0029748. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.