title: Demographic and psychosocial factors associated with appointment attendance among HIV-positive outpatients.
abstract: Non-adherence to medical regimens is a critical threat to HIV-infected individuals. Persons living with HIV/AIDS must adhere to their outpatient medical appointments to benefit from continually improving HIV care regimens. The primary purpose of the present study was to identify individual and psychosocial characteristics associated with HIV-related medical appointment non-attendance. One hundred seventy eight adult participants attending the Outpatient Adult HIV/AIDS Immunology Clinic at Jackson Memorial Hospital (JMH) in Miami, Florida participated in the study. Scheduled and missed appointments obtained retrospectively over a 12-month period indicated that medical appointment non-attendance was a significant problem. Overall, 27.9% of scheduled appointments were missed during the study period. Young age and limited family support were predictors of non-attendance. These findings support those of others and highlight targeted intervention efforts to reduce appointment non-attendance among persons living with HIV/AIDS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, FL, USA. linabofill@gmail.com
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bofill
authors.forename: Drenna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Waldrop-Valverde
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Metsch
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pereyra
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kolber
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010045:Outpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors