The neural mechanism of resilience-based intervention enhancing AIDS orphans’ psychosocial resources: preliminary findings

• Published in: Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) N.J.), 2024-03, Vol.43 (11), p.9602-9612
• Main Authors: Gong, Xinyu, Wang, Yinan, Su, Shuang, Zuo, Pei-Ying, Bu, Yu, Liu, Jia, Cheon, Bobby, Lin, Danhua
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Behavioral Science and Psychology; Intervention; Psychology; Social Sciences
• ISSN: 1046-1310; 1936-4733
• DOI: 10.1007/s12144-023-05074-2

Resilience-based interventions can improve positive psychosocial resources for vulnerable children. However, it is unclear about the neural mechanism of how psychosocial resources are enhanced by resilience-based intervention in AIDS orphans. To fill this gap, we designed a six-week resilience-based intervention for twenty AIDS orphans raised in institutions (age:15.75 ± 1.97). The efficacy of the intervention was evaluated by employing a pre- and post-intervention study design, with multilevel estimations at the baseline and completion phase, and a follow-up behavioral estimation 8 months afterward. We found that AIDS orphans’ optimism about the future ( p  = .01) and perceived teachers’ support ( p  = .02) increased significantly after resilience-based intervention, these gains were still maintained after 8-months. Moreover, the changes in optimism about future could be predicted by both intervention-caused alterations and baselines of the amplitude of low frequency fluctuations in putamen; the changes in perceived teachers’ support could be predicted by both intervention-caused alterations and baselines of the amplitude of low frequency fluctuations in postcentral gyrus. These findings indicated the potential intervention-specific neural changes in AIDS orphans along with the improvement of psychosocial resource. Our study contributed to optimizing the person-centered treatment and advancing the precision mental health of vulnerable children.