Partner Support, Willingness to Sacrifice, and HIV Medication Self-Efficacy

When taken as prescribed, highly active anti-retroviral medications allow individuals with HIV to live long, healthy lives. Nevertheless, poor adherence is common. In the current study, we examined why some people fail to feel efficacious to adhere, focusing on their interpersonal relationships. Given past findings that some individuals with primary partners adhere better than those without, whereas others adhere worse, we examined whether relationship dynamics influence the association between support from a primary partner and adherence self-efficacy. Specifically, we hypothesized and found that relationship partners’ support regarding medication adherence undermines self-efficacy when the partner is perceived as unwilling to sacrifice for the relationship. We discuss the implications of these results for intervention construction and for understanding the power of the relationship context on HIV medication adherence.