title: Patient's perception, compliance to treatment and health education of antiretroviral therapy among HIV patients at a tertiary healthcare setting.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To illustrate perceptions, compliance to treatment and satisfaction levels regarding health education services pertaining to the anti-retrovival therapy among HIV and AIDS patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The cross-sectional survey was carried out at the HIV Treatment Centre, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad, from September 2009 to February 2010 in which patients were interviewed separately regarding their perceptions, compliance to treatment and satisfaction levels regarding health education services pertaining to the anti-retrovival therapy. All data collected was entered into SPSS version 15.0. The data was revalidated and analysed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and forty patients were interviewed; there were 99 (70.7%) males.. Of the total, 28 (20%) had no knowledge about the beneficial effects of the therapy, and 45 (32 %) ranked health education services extremely beneficial in understanding the anti-retrovival therapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While a significant proportion of patients considered ART either somewhat beneficial or beneficial in treating their ailment, they were unclear about the impact of health education provided at the treatment centre and different forms of print media.
authors.affiliation: aleem.hussain@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
authors.forename: Aleem Raza
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Hussain
authors.forename: Syed Muslim
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Abbas
authors.forename: Qudsia
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Uzma
authors.forename: Tahira Ezra
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Reza
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006678:HIV; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009017:Morbidity / Q000639:trends; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D063128:Tertiary Health Care; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents