Abstract
The impact of an adherence enhancement program for low income HIV-infected Spanishspeaking Latinos on health literacy, patient–provider relationships, and adherence to HAART was examined. Evaluations were conducted at baseline, 6 weeks, and 6 months for participants(n = 85) randomly assigned to either the intervention group or a comparison group; 69(81%) remained in the study for the entire 6-month duration. The intervention group scored significantly better than the comparison group on 3 of 5 measures of HIV health literacy at 6 weeks and on 2 of 5 measures, at 6 months. While there was a weak trend for the intervention group to report an increase in self-efficacy of medication adherence management, baseline to 6 weeks, no other changes were significant. Perceptions of the quality of relationship and communications with their HIV-treating physicians improved both at 6 weeks (p = 0.04) and at 6 months (p < 0.001). The comparison group showed little change baseline to 6 weeks and baseline to 6 months. While there was a trend for the pilot group to report better medication adherence, these differences were not statistically significant. Further evaluation of the impact of this adherence enhancement program is needed.
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