Health Literacy and Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy Among Persons Living with HIV Receiving Care at Tema General Hospital

Abstract

Background: In 2023, global statistics revealed an alarming 39.9 million individuals living with HIV, estimating that 1.3 million individuals were newly diagnosed. A remedy for addressing this global health threat is Antiretroviral therapy (ART). This is a regimen prescribed for persons living with HIV to help them attain viral suppression as well as to strengthen their immune system to reduce the occurrence of opportunistic disease. There is limited study on how health literacy affects ART adherence rate, especially within Sub-Saharan Africa and Ghana to be precise. This research evaluated the connection of health literacy with the adherence to antiretroviral therapy among individuals living with HIV/AIDS receiving medical care at Tema General Hospital. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was adopted in this research. A standardized questionnaire was utilized to gather data from the participants on the primary study variables of interest. Both descriptive and inferential statistical methods were applied to analyze the data that was collected. Results: A total of 380 responses were received from the target participants who had given their consent to partake in the study. The participants had an average age of 44.97±12.26 years. The average duration of the study participants on ART was 6.97±4.81 years. The most frequent age group enrolled in the study was 45-54 years. Ninety-six (25.26%) participants scored low on medication adherence. One hundred and eighty-eight (49.48%) of the study participants scored medium on medication adherence, while 99 (25.26%) scored high on medication adherence. Five domains on the HLQ recorded optimum mean scores, suggesting strength in those areas. The remaining four domains recorded moderate mean scores, suggesting areas for improvement. Elements encompassing age, sex, employment status, educational attainment, and marital status determined health literacy levels, with the greatest influence being educational, and the least being marital status. All but one of the domains of HLQ (social support for health) had strong positive correlation with drug-regimen adherence. Conclusion: Health literacy levels demonstrated significant positive correlation with medication adherence suggesting that health literacy could greatly improve medication adherence levels among PLWH. Therefore, interventions to improve health literacy across board should be considered.