Medication adherence and health-related quality of life amongst HIV patients receiving care at umuebule cottage hospital, etched, Rivers State

ABSTRACT

HIV treatment is available, free, and accessible for individuals who are infected. The study is aimed at determining the levels of medication adherence and health related quality of life (HRQOL) among HIV patients receiving care at Umuebule Cottage Hospital, Etche, Rivers State.Method: This cross-sectional study recruited 430 adult clients who have been on ART for at least one year using a convenient sampling method. An average of 10 patients visits the facility on clinic days. After explaining the purpose of study and obtaining consent,patients who met the eligibility criteria were recruited on each clinic day for a period of 12 weeks, until the sample size was reached. Data was collected using semi-structured interviewer administered validated questionnaire; Morisky Medication Adherence Questionnaire (MMAS-8) and WHO-Quality of Life-BREF(WHOQOL-BREF), after a pilot study on 30 PLHIV from Okomoko general hospital, Etche. Data was analyzed with IBM-SPSS Version 25. The mean age of respondents was 35.9±10.9 years, 59.3% of the respondents' last viral load was suppressed, 19.1% had low level viremia, while (21.6%) were virally unsuppressed. Medication adherence levels were observed to be good (67.7%), poor (32.3%) respectively, while HRQOL of respondents were found to be poor (56.9%) and good (43.1%).Conclusion:A significant proportion of the respondents adhere to their medication whereas most of them had poor HRQOL. There is need for hospital management to collaborate with social welfare organizations to support PLHIV to set up means of earning to enable them to provide their basic needs for improved HRQOL