Adherence to antiretroviral treatment among adolescents living with HIV/AIDS: Integrative Literature Review

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To identify in the literature the factors that interfere with adherence to drug therapy in adolescents living with HIV/AIDS. DATA SOURCES: An integrative literature review was carried out, with searches in five databases. The descriptors in health sciences (DeCS) and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) were used, namely: medication adherence, HIV, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, adolescent and Medication Adherence, HIV, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Adolescent, respectively. Full articles in Portuguese, English and Spanish from 2007 to 2017 were selected. DATA SYNTHESIS: Thirty-four articles were found and after applying the inclusion criteria, six articles were selected. Of these, five in Portuguese (83.3%), carried out in Brazil and one in English (16.7%), carried out in the United States of America. Regarding the type of study, four of them had qualitative data (66.6%), one had mixed methodology (16.7%) and one was a literature review (16.7%). After reading the selected articles, four categories emerged regarding adherence: factors related to drug characteristics, treatment effects and dosage, social and economic factors and age group. CONCLUSION: Knowledge of the factors that influence adherence is essential for nurses and other health professionals to be able to provide comprehensive care and develop strategies that favor adherence to treatment, improving the attitude of adolescents and their caregivers, enhancing their self-care capacity.