The Role of Mental Health Services in Addressing HIV Infection Among Women With Serious Mental Illness

This article reviews how mental health services can best prevent and treat HIV infection among women with serious mental illness.

This is a selective narrative review of the recent literature on mental health services and HIV. The author used the terms “HIV,” “serious mental illness,” and “women” to search Google Scholar.

Out of 500 relevant papers retrieved, 82 were included, based on their state-of-the-art findings. Women with serious mental illness at risk of HIV were found to be an especially vulnerable group. The evidence suggests that discussion of the modes of viral transmission reduces the risk of infection in this population, as do psychoeducation; long-term antipsychotic medication; adherence therapy; community treatment orders; prevention of domestic violence and homelessness; disbursement of financial entitlements; provision of psychotherapy and social support; cognitive rehabilitation; promotion of abstinence, monogamy, or reduction in the number of sexual partners; access to and training in the use of condoms; prophylaxis with vaginal microbicides and oral antiretroviral drugs; prompt diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases; across-the-board offers of HIV testing; and preservation and monitoring of reproductive health. For HIV-positive individuals, comprehensive treatment measures have included prompt HIV treatment; long-term retention in care; supervision of medication adherence and drug interactions; rapid management of substance use disorders and all other comorbidities as well as drug side effects; and preclusion of professional stigmatization.

There is now sufficient evidence to recommend effective combinations of strategies to prevent and treat HIV within mental health services.