Effects of Behavioral Modification Program for Taking Antiretroviral Drugs Adherence among HIV Infected Young Patients Khon Kaen Hospital, Khon Kaen Province

Abstract

This study used a quasi-experimental design to assess the effectiveness of a 10-
week health education program which was applied by protection motivation
theory and social support for implementation. The program was designed to
enhance adherence to prescribed antiretroviral drug regimens among young HIV
patients at Khon Kaen Hospital. The participants were 64 patients, who were
divided into an experimental group and a comparative group, each group with 32
subjects. The experimental group attended a health education program which
included lectures, group discussions, modeling, provision of a handbook and home
visits. Questionnaires were used to collect data, which were analyzed using
descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, means and standard
deviations. Paired and independent t-tests were used for comparing group means,
and statistical significance was set at p<0.05. At the end of education program, the
experimental group showed statistically significant improvements in the mean
scores for knowledge about AIDS, perceived severity of failing to take drugs
regularly, perceived susceptibility to not taking antiretroviral drugs regularly, selfefficacy expectancy about adherence to taking antiretroviral drugs, response
efficacy of adherence to taking antiretroviral drugs, level of social support,
intention to take antiretroviral drugs, and self-reported practice in adherence to
taking antiretroviral drugs. In addition, the mean scores on all these outcome
variables for the experimental group at posttest were significantly better than
those for the comparison group at p<0.001.