Effects of Cognitive and Behavioral Program on Drug Adherence, CD4 and AIDS Knowledge in Late Adolescent and Early Adult HIV/AIDS Patients
Abstract
Background: Regularity and continuity of medication is important in HIV/AIDS treatment. Late adolescents and early adults tend to have more problems of regularity and continuity of medication taking.Methods: This quasi-experimental study has objectives to study outcomes of a Cognitive and Behavioral program in improving the regularity and continuity of medication taking and CD4 and AIDS knowledge in late adolescent and early adult HIV/AIDS patients. Sixteen study patients were specifically selected from Immunodeficiency and infectious diseases Clinic at Siriraj Hospital. Study equipment include Cognitive and Behavioral program, Drug Diary card, and questionnaire evaluating AIDS knowledge. The regularity and continuity of medication taking by patients was evaluated at enrollment and 3, 5, 9, 13 and 17 weeks after enrollment. Plasma HIV-RNA and CD4 were measured at enrollment and 17 weeks after enrollment. AIDS knowledge was evaluated at enrollment and at the 3rd week after enrollment. Data was analyzed by Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test and Friedman Test.
Results: The regularity and continuity of medication taking by patients was improved from 88.5% to 100% (p < 0 .001) from the 3rd week after enrollment. The number of plasma HIV-RNA was decreased from 171,369 to 2,439 copies/ml (p = 0.022) at the 17th week after enrollment. The number of CD4 was increased 328 to 366 cells/mm3 (p = 0.005) at 17th week after enrollment. AIDS knowledge was increased significantly (p < 0.001) at the 3rd week after enrollment.
Conclusion: This study elaborated that Cognitive and Behavioral Program can significantly improve the regularity and continuity of medication taking by patients’ AIDS knowledge leading to the ultimate outcome of controlling plasma HIV-RNA and CD4 elevation. This Cognitive and Behavioral Program can be applied to solve the problems of patients' irregularity and in-continuity of medication taking.
Keywords: HIV/AIDS, cognitive and behavioral program, drug adherence, CD4, AIDS knowledge
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