Coping with ARV Treatment Adherence to Medication Adherence A Hospital based Study in Indonesia

Abstract

Introduction: Antiretroviral medication (ARV) is an important therapy in the management of HIV infection. Compliance with taking ARV medication is a major factor in achieving succesful HIV/AIDS treatment. Low adherence rates are a major problem in HIV treatment. Factors that affect adherence to taking ARV medication include coping used in dealing with challenges and stress related to HIV treatment.

Objectives: This study aims to analyze the relationship between coping with ARV medication adherence and medication adherence.

Methods: The study population was HIV/AIDS patients who visited the Voluntary Counseling and Test (VCT) Polyclinic at RSUP Dr. M. Djamil Padang. The inclusion criteria were HIV/AIDS patients who had taken ARV drugs and excluded with the following sample size based on 84 respondents using a purposive random sampling technique. Inclusion Criteria HIV/AIDS patients who have been taking ARV drugs for more than 6 months and have CD4 and Viral load checks. Unvariabel analysis was performed to see the frequency distribution of each variable. The chi square test was used to determine the relationship between coping compliance with antiretroviral drug (ARV) adherence in HIV/AIDS patients. P < 0.05 is significant, and the data were analyzed using SPSS version 21.0.

Results: The results of the analysis of the relationship between coping and adherence to taking medication showed that there were 42 people (68.9%) respondents whose coping was ineffective, not adhering to taking medication. Meanwhile, among the respondents whose coping was adaptive, there were 9 people (39.1%) who did not adhere to taking medication. Statistical test results obtained P value = 0.013.

Conclusions: Based on the results of data analysis, it showed that there was a significant relationship between coping with adherence to taking ARV medication and adherence to taking medication.