The Adherence Of Taking Antiretroviral

In today’s world we seem to put aside things that we consider no longer a threat. Well we are wrong to do this, because HIV/AIDS still affects over 5.4 million people that are walking around with this infection or full blown AIDS. They are friends, Criminals, neighbors, and even children attending school, etc. So, why do we think it is ok to not worry about a problem that does not have a cure, but only a life time of meds? Within this qualitative research method, we will explore Sexual risk, there or the Measures, Sexual risk, method, demographics, HIV/AIDS risk and may add other areas as they relate to this study.

However, there is growing concern about the disproportionate increase of HIV among adolescent African American males ages 13-19. These adolescent males count for 37 percent of the cases, which double their representation in their general population. Although, Poverty is a major

One of the major topics correlated with adolescents is the increase in sexual activity among adolescents (Miller & More, 1990). The dramatic increase in sexual intercourse among members of the United States, mostly homosexual men, lead to one of the worst epidemics in history, the AIDS

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a serious condition in our society. If left untreated, HIV can progress to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) (CDC, 2016a). Once a person is infected with HIV, it can never be completely removed from the body, meaning they are infected for the remainder of their life (CDC, 2016a). HIV was initially thought to be a problem only in younger generations (Ellman, Sexton, Warshafsky, Sobieszczyk, & Morrison, 2014). However, evidence has emerged suggesting that an epidemic may be brewing in the older adult population (Ellman et al., 2014; Karpiak & Brennan-Ing, 2016; Robnett & Chop, 2015). I decided to research this topic, because I personally had no idea that HIV was so prevalent in this age group.

Adherence to pharmacotherapy is the basis of treatment success of chronic illnesses. The association between advance practice nurses and their patients as it relates to successfully managing their health care regime is important on many levels. One basic viewpoint is that of failure in adherence to medication will impact optimum health and affect wellbeing. According to Jimmy and Jose (2011) The prescription of medication is necessary to treat an assortment of medical problems to ensure treatment success. According to Brown and Bussell (2011) and Hovstadius and Petersson (2011) Roughly 50 percent of patients do not take their medication as prescribed. As per the World Health Organization (2003), "the extent to which a person behaves, that is, taking medication, diet recommendations related to suggestions from a health care provider" is known as adherence.

Substance use is commonly seen during the adolescence period. Adolescent are found engaging in alcohol, smoking, and other drug use. However, the use of the substance is leading to health damage. Ultimately, “in the long term could lead to widespread disease.”

“To achieve the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States goal of reducing the number of persons who become infected with HIV, further improvements in the prevalence of behaviors that contribute to HIV infection among young persons are needed. Renewed educational efforts that reach all students before risk behaviors are initiated and that seek to delay the onset of sexual activity, increase condom use among students who are sexually active, and decrease injection drug use are warranted.” (p.

A RCT found that psychosocial syndemics increased the likelihood of ART non- adherence among HIV patients with an 80% adherence cut-off (Blashill, A. J., Bedoya, C. A.,2015). This study found that over 56% of patients with pyschoscoial syndemics were non-adherent and with any combination of 1 or more syndemics were at greater odds to be non-adherent. This potentially suggests HIV patients with psychosocial syndemics are more likely to have non-adherence and insufficient viral suppression than HIV patients without signs of depression. Some other studies included cross-sectional surveys which found more correlations amongst depressive symptoms and ART adherence rather than causation. One study for instance found that optimal ART adherence depends on social support and mental health status among HIV patients (Huynh, A. K.,2013). Another found that greater depressive symptoms and larger environmental punishment were significantly correlated with a larger number of doses missed across nonadherence (Magidson, J. F., Listhaus, A., 2015). The last cross-sectional found a high correlation of depressive symptoms and emotion dysregulation in connection to ART adherence and HIV symptom side effects, distress tolerance and avoidant coping (Brandt, C. P.,2015). This study along with the other two cross-sectional studies were entirely self-reported data which could have

Since adolescents are prone to contracting STI’s, it is important to set in place prevention programs that focus on adolescent-specific variables. According to Lesser and Smoots, “to effectively meet the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/STI prevention needs of all adolescents, programs should be developmentally and gender specific, should integrate an understanding of racial/ethnic culture, and should be open to variations in sexual expression” (Lesser & Smoots, 2005). Adolescents are experiencing huge emotional, physical, and hormonal development and changes. Lesser and Smoots believe adolescent development can “frequently lead to behaviors that appear self-centered” (Lesser & Smoots, 2005). This can lead adolescents to think that

It is important to note however, that the improved survival rates seen in HIV populations overall in the last two decades, have been less pronounced among HIV positive persons who use illicit drugs (10, 11). This discrepancy is partly attributable to poor ART adherence in this population (12). Nevertheless, persons who inject drugs with optimal adherence to ART can benefit from therapy to the same degree as other HIV-infected populations (13). However, ongoing substance use is consistently associated with low adherence to ART (14-16), which in turn results in worse virologic and immunologic outcomes among illicit drug users when compared to former drug users and non-users (17, 18).

Treatment adherence is critical for HIV positive individuals, but many find it challenging to maintain. Sarita D. Boyd (2011) conducted a review of currently recommended treatment

The average age for the start of puberty is eleven years old. During adolescence, teens undergo changes within their bodies. This is the time where they begin to form their own identity. As a result, it leads to experimentation in a vast number of ways. Dress, personality, and drugs are all types of experimentation that teens go through. The most important is sexuality. Decisions being made by teens today are resulting in consequences that are affecting their own health. The recent breakout of STD’s (sexually transmitted diseases), AIDS, and teen pregnancies in the past two decades have brought this issue to the attention of society. There is a dispute of whether or not

There are several kinds of incurable diseases in this world. Nevertheless, HIV is the deadliest of them all. HIV has infected over 2.1 million people in the United States since 1999. Half a million children under the age fifteen have been diagnosed with HIV, usually infected through mother-to-child transmission or sexual invasion. Subsequently, infection through sexual intercourse with a bisexual or drug infected partner, or even a blood transfusion can cause a person to contract the HIV virus. Therefore, it is clear to see that HIV and AIDS have infected half the population. How do the other half of the population protect themselves from this deadly disease? By getting tested of course! For these reasons the topics that will be

According to NATIONAL SURVEY OF TEENS AND YOUNG ADULTS ON HIV/AIDS, “There are more than 1.1 million people in the United States living with HIV today, more than at any time in the history of the epidemic. Young people account for two in five new infections in the U.S., and minorities and gay men have been disproportionately affected. To better understand the views of young people in the U.S. on HIV/AIDS at this critical juncture in the epidemic, the Kaiser Family Foundation contracted with the research firm GfK in the fall of 2012 to conduct a national survey of 1,437 teens and young adults ages 15 through 24.( Kaiser Family Foundation 2012)” Nowadays, the age of maturity starts at an early age. From that point, they enter a world full of sexual desires that is apart of being human. This is why it is important for the parent(s) to be

While searching for their independence Adolescent find themselves participating or engaging in risky behaviors. According to World Health Organizations, “many adolescents face pressure to use alcohol, cigarettes, or other drugs and to initiate sexual relationships, sexual relationships, at earlier ages, and putting themselves at high risk for intentional and unintentional injuries”. Adolescent are very much different from adults and some are not capable of making adult decisions. Being under the influence at such a young age can result in these teens making life altering decisions. “Specifically, adolescents are not fully capable of understanding complex concepts, or the relationship between behavior and consequences, or the degree of control they have or can have over health decision making including that related to sexual behavior” (WHO, 2016).