title: Effects of a treatment adherence enhancement program on health literacy, patient-provider relationships, and adherence to HAART among low-income HIV-positive Spanish-speaking Latinos.
abstract: The impact of an adherence enhancement program for low income HIV-infected Spanish-speaking Latinos on health literacy, patient-provider relationships, and adherence to HAART was examined. Evaluations were conducted at baseline, 6 weeks, and 6 months for participants (n = 85) randomly assigned to either the intervention group or a comparison group; 69 (81%) remained in the study for the entire 6-month duration. The intervention group scored significantly better than the comparison group on 3 of 5 measures of HIV health literacy at 6 weeks and on 2 of 5 measures, at 6 months. While there was a weak trend for the intervention group to report an increase in self-efficacy of medication adherence management, baseline to 6 weeks, no other changes were significant. Perceptions of the quality of relationship and communications with their HIV-treating physicians improved both at 6 weeks (p = 0.04) and at 6 months (p < 0.001). The comparison group showed little change baseline to 6 weeks and baseline to 6 months. While there was a trend for the pilot group to report better medication adherence, these differences were not statistically significant. Further evaluation of the impact of this adherence enhancement program is needed.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90095-6917, USA. Gservell@sonnet.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Gwen
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: van Servellen
authors.forename: Adeline
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nyamathi
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Carpio
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pearce
authors.forename: Lorraine
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Garcia-Teague
authors.forename: Gilberto
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Herrera
authors.forename: Emilia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lombardi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D006266:Health Education; D006304:Health Status; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D015141:Los Angeles; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011203:Poverty