Anti-Retroviral Therapy Adherence among Women Living with HIV in Coimbatore District of Tamil Nadu, India

Adherence to ART is a highly personalized patient related behavior which may need several adjustments in routine way of living, diet etc.  Non adherence has been shown to be due to lack of better information of disease process, coping with side effects, cultural barriers, stigma associated with HIV etc. Accurate information about one’s ART regimen and about what constitutes adequate adherence, high levels of adherence-related motivation and strong adherence- related behavioral skills are posited to underlie optimal adherence. Adherence levels were measured in 30 Women living with HIV/AIDS, in Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu, India. The Scores in the 3 domains of Information--Motivation--Behavioral Skills (IMB) model of adherence were calculated using the ‘The Life Windows Information Motivation Behavioral Skills ART Adherence Questionnaire (LW-IMB-AAQ)’ scale. The overall mean score for the three areas of IMB was above 50%, with highest score for behavioral skills followed by information and motivation.  Scores in each domain were split into three levels - low, moderate and high and the percentage of patients in each level was calculated. Most of the patients had good information related to adherence. Majority of the patients had low total behavior score which is influenced by the low motivation and moderate adherence related behavioral skills. Correlation of the demographic variables showed that age had significant negative relationship with education and occupation was positively correlated with the period of infection.