Situational Temptation for HIV Medication Adherence in High-Risk Youth

Abstract This study explored the role of situational temptation, a component of self-efficacy, in adolescent and young adult (ages 16–24) HIV medication adherence by assessing participants' perceptions of their temptation to miss medications in various situations (e.g., when medication causes physical side effects, when there is fear of disclosure of HIV status). Youth (n = 186; 83% African American) were participants in a multisite clinical trial examining the efficacy of a motivational intervention. Data were collected using computer-assisted personal interviewing. Youth believed the most tempting reasons or situations that might lead them to miss their HIV medications to be symptoms (if the medicine caused you to have other physical symptoms) and sick (if the medicine made you sick to your stomach or made you throw up or if it tasted bad), but these were not significantly associated with nonadherence. This suggests disconnection between youths' expectations of temptation and actual tempting situations ...