Impact of Self-Efficacy on Medication Adherence among People Living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus / 대한내과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND/AIMS: It is very important that people living with HIV (PLWH) maintain 95% medication adherence to increase health-related quality of life and prevent transmitting HIV. In this study, we analyzed factors influencing medication adherence among PLWH and used the basic data for practical interventions to increase medication adherence. METHODS: A total of 190 PLWH, who were taking highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) from nine hospitals in South Korea, were included. The data were collected by self-administered questionnaire between April 1 and June 31, 2014. RESULTS: About 92% of the subjects were male and 72.9% of the subjects belonged to the high compliance group. Medication-taking self-efficacy was significantly related to compliance. Efficacy expectancy, which is a subscale of medication-taking self-efficacy, indicated that a score of 1 point higher on a 10-point scale increased compliance by 2.63 times. CONCLUSIONS: Medication adherence is associated with increased medication-taking self-efficacy. Therefore, it is necessary to promote self-efficacy to improve compliance considering the infection period and adverse reactions to HAART among PLWH.