A Study Trial of a Brief Psycho-educational Group Intervention for HIV/AIDS Infected Adults Who are Non-Adherent with Their Medications
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Date
2017-06-30
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Johns Hopkins University
Abstract
With the use of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART), the key to successful
HIV/AIDS treatment is adherence to medications. Young adults, aged 18 to 30, are becoming infected with HIV at increasingly high rates and tend not to be adherent to their HAART regimens. The main contributing factors to HAART non-adherence in young adults are HIV disease stigma, mental health and substance use disorders, as well as beliefs/issues regarding medication. A needs assessment conducted in the Johns Hopkins Hospital outpatient infectious disease clinic in fall 2015 indicated that 50% of young adults infected with HIV/AIDS are non-adherent with their HAART regimen. In an effort to improve medication adherence in this population, an intervention was designed that included six psycho-educational groups utilizing the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) model for young HIV/AIDS-infected adults. The study enrolled 21 participants, but it failed to be implemented due to poor participant attendance at the scheduled group sessions. Of the 21 participants, 76.19% reported a medication adherence of 95-100%. However, these participants had detectable HIV viral loads, indicating medication adherence below 95-100%. Additional research must be conducted to fully understand and address the barriers HIV/AIDS-infected young adults face before an effective intervention can be implemented.
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Keywords
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Viral Load (VL), Young Adults, Stigma, Mental Health, Substance Use, Medication Adherence, Information-Motivation- Behavioral Skills (IMB) model