HIV/AIDS & Orphan Care (POFO II); Positive Outcomes for Orphans (POFO)

Sponsors:

  • NIH-National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Collaborators:

  • KIWAKKUKI

Start Date:

End Date:

  • Ongoing

HIV/AIDS & Orphan Care (POFO II); Positive Outcomes for Orphans (POFO)

POFO is a 10-year observational study of orphaned and abandoned children (OAC) and a small cohort of non-OAC in five low and middle-income countries (Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, and Tanzania). Children and their caregivers were first interviewed starting at ages 6 to 12 in order to examine the influence of life events, residential placements, caregiver characteristics, and cultural settings on the children's: 1) learning and development including behavioral and emotional adjustment, 2) health outcomes, 3) relationship outcomes including HIV risk behaviors and family formation, and 4) educational achievement, labor force participation, and civic engagement.

Round 9 interviews were completed at all six POFO study sites. Round 10 interviews will begin during the fall and winter of 2013. Data entry is ongoing. The Research Director of the international sector, Rachel Whetten, conducted a site visit at the Moshi site in April 2013. In April 2013 Grace Zhou presented POFO findings (Understanding the psychosocial health of orphans and vulnerable children) at the Global Health & Innovation conference at Yale University. Grace, a Hart Fellow, is currently conducting a supplemental project to POFO to examine the reintegration experiences of formerly institutionalized children at the POFO site in Battambang, Cambodia. In November 2013 Amy Hobbie presented POFO findings (Psychosocial wellbeing and cognitive development among orphans and abandoned children in five low income countries) at the annual International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies conference in Philadelphia. In November 2013 an article using POFO data called "Child and caregiver concordance of potentially traumatic events experienced by orphaned and abandoned children" by D. G. Rajan et al. was published in Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies. Jan Ostermann and Jia Yao each gave a presentation at the %u201CInternational Symposium on Psychosocial Well-being of Disadvantaged Children%u201D held in Kaifeng, Henan Province, China in November 2013? Jan's presentation was called "Is support for orphans targeted toward those in need and does it matter?" and Jia's was called "Exploring adolescent Behavior and achievement."

The goal of the POFO research study is to provide additional evidence to local communities, policy makers and funding agencies regarding a range of optimal and feasible care options for orphaned and abandoned children ages six and above in less wealthy nations.

Last updated on June 3, 2020