Effectivity of an educational intervention on HIV knowledge and adherence to antiretroviral therapy Efectividad de intervención educativa en conocimientos sobre VIH y adherencia terapéutica antirretroviral

Abstract

Introduction: The infection caused by the human immunodeficiency virus figures as one of the greatest challenges for public health, therefore, knowledge about the disease and the adherence to antiretroviral therapy for people who live with HIV, are crucial elements to mitigate health effects of this epidemic. Objective: Evaluate the effectivity of an educational intervention to increase the level of knowledge on HIV and encourage the adherence to antiretroviral therapy in people who have HIV. Materials and methods: Pre-experimental study with no control group, with the participation of 10 people with HIV on antiretroviral treatment, through the non-probability method of snowball sampling. The intervention was developed in three stages, with three sessions. Two instruments were applied: a questionnaire designed expressly to measure knowledge on HIV, evaluated post-intervention through the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and the Morisky-Green test to measure the therapeutic adherence, analyzed through a t-test of paired samples. Results: in the diagnostic stage, 100% of the sample showed low levels of knowledge on HIV and no therapeutic adherence. At the end of the intervention, 90% of the participants increased their level of knowledge and 70% where adherent to therapy, both results with significant statistical differences (p=.004; p=.005). Conclusions: The educational intervention demonstrated to be effective by increasing the level of knowledge on HIV and encouraging the adherence to antiretroviral therapy