Pharmaceutical Care Program Improves Antiretroviral Drug Adherence in Non-Adherence Patients

Abstract

A pharmaceutical care program on antiretroviral drug adherence was implemented in non-adher-ence HIV and AIDS patients whose drug adherence, knowledge and motivation were evaluated. There were 113 HIV and AIDS non-drug-adherent patients who met the inclusion criteria enrolled and subjected to cluster random sampling into a control group (n = 56) and an intervention group (n = 57). The average age of the intervention group was 42.04±8.02 years old with 12.05±6.67 months of antiretroviral drug treatment and an average CD4 of 139.65±60.89 cells/mm 3 ; whereas the control group was 41.70±7.94 years old with 12.29±6.97 months of the treatments and an average CD4 of 136.05±67.86 cells/mm 3 , suggested non-significant differences between the two groups. The intervention group received 3 visits, 1-, 4- and 8-week follow-ups, with additional activities dealing with provision of drug knowledge, problem identification, individual drug management program and drug counseling. Both groups were interviewed using structured questionnaires at the first and last visits. The results showed that drug adher-ence, knowledge and motivation of the intervention group were significantly higher after the program (p<0.05); and higher than those of the control group (p<0.05). It is concluded that the pharmaceutical care program promotes drug adherence, increase knowledge and treatment motivation of the non-adher-ence HIV and AIDS patients.