Article Sidebar
Published:
Aug 19, 2019DOI:
10.4314/ahs.v19i2.12Keywords:
Article Details
While African Health Sciences has been freely accessible online there have been questions on whether it is Open Access or not. We wish to clearly state that indeed African Health Sciences is Open Access. There are key issues regarding Open Access needing clarification for avoidance of doubt:
- 1. Henceforth, papers in African Health Sciences will be published under the CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution License) 4.0 International. See details on https://creativecomons.org/)
- 2. The copyright owners or the authors grant the 3rd party (perpetually and in advance) the right to disseminate, reproduce, or use the research papers in part or in full, format/medium as long as:
- No substantive errors are introduced in the process
- Attribution of authorship and correct citation details are given
- The referencing details are not changed.
Should the papers be reproduced in part, this must be clearly stated.
- 3. The papers will be freely and universally accessible online in an easily readable format such as XML in at least one widely recognized open access repository such as PUBMED CENTRAL.
B. ABRIDGED LICENCE AGREEMENT BETWEEN AUTHORS AND African Health Sciences
I submitted my manuscript to African Health Sciences and would like to affirm that:
1.0 I am authorized by my co-authors to enter into these arrangements.
2.0 I guarantee, on behalf of self and co-authors:
- That the paper is original, and has not been published in any other peer-reviewed journal; nor is it under consideration by other journal (s). It does not infringe existing copyright or any other person’s rights
- That we are/I am the sole author(s) of the paper and with authority to enter into this agreement. My granting rights to African Health Sciences is not in breach of any other obligation
- That the paper contains nothing unlawful, or libelous. Nor anything that would constitute a breach of contract, confidence or commitment given to secrecy, if published
- That I/we have taken care to ensure the integrity of the article.
3.0 I and all co-authors, agree that the paper, if accepted for publication, shall be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0. (see https://creativecommons.org/)
Main Article Content
Depressive symptoms, sexual activity, and substance use among adolescents in Kampala, Uganda
Abstract
Background: Adolescents experience high rates of depression, initiation of sexual activity, and substance use.
Objectives: To better understand the demographics of adolescents presenting to an adolescent clinic in Uganda, and to elucidate which factors are associated with depressive symptoms, sexual initiation, and substance use.
Methods: A retrospective review was performed on intake forms obtained during interviews with adolescents presenting to the Makerere/Mulago Columbia Adolescent Health Clinic (MMCAH) in Kampala, Uganda.
Results: Depressive symptoms in adolescents were correlated with having a chronic illness (p=.026), and reported poor quality of home life (p<.001). Initiation of sexual activity was also correlated with chronic illness (p=.008) and poor quality of home life (p=.006). Substance use was correlated with maternal death (p=.041), chronic illness (p=.038), and substance use among family members (p<.001) and friends (p<.001).
Conclusions: Knowing the aforementioned risk factors can help us better understand the needs of adolescents presenting to
MMCAH, and allows us to develop targeted interventions aimed at decreasing health risks in Kampala’s adolescent population.
Keywords: Depressive symptoms, sexual activity, substance use, adolescents, Uganda.
