Friday, 14 January 2005 - 8:00 AM

This presentation is part of: HIV Prevention and Treatment

Ethnic, Gender, and Age Differences in HIV Medical Adherence Decision-Making Among Individuals with HIV/AIDS and Histories of Substance Abuse

This paper presents findings of ethnic, gender, and age differences in factors influencing adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) among individuals with HIV/AIDS and histories of substance abuse. The study employed concept mapping as a technique to generate statements from participants regarding factors that influence their decision-making in HIV-medical adherence. A diverse sample of men (n= 54) and women (n= 15) participated in concept mapping sessions in which they performed three tasks: Brainstorming as a group to generate statements related to reasons for adherence; individually sorting statements into conceptually similar groups; and individually rating each statement according to its importance as a factor influencing adherence. The concept mapping methodology used for this study performs quantitative analyses (multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis) on qualitative data to group statements generated by participants into clusters (themes) and incorporate data from statement ratings to interpret the overall importance of clusters in influencing adherence. Based on the 100 statements generated, concept mapping analysis identified twelve clusters related to participants’ management of their HIV-medical adherence. Findings suggest that participants rated three areas as most important to adherence: Internal and External Catalysts for Taking Medication, Reasons to Take Medicine; and Fears about the Regimen. Differences by age, gender, and ethnicity were apparent when importance ratings were examined separately for each group. Women, older adults, African Americans, and Latinos rated spirituality and hope as more important for adherence than men, younger adults, and Whites. In this population, interventions to promote adherence would benefit from targeting the three common reasons for adherence. Adherence could be enhanced for women, older adults, African Americans and Latinos with tailored interventions that focus on spirituality and hope.

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