Validation of a Self-Reported Questionnaire Assessing Adherence to Antiretroviral Medication

Abstract

The aim of this study was to verify the validity of a new self-reported questionnaire designed to assess nonadherence to antiretroviral medication among patients with HIV. Two hundred fifty-six patients from four clinics participated in a prospective longitudinal study. The questionnaire was designed to measure if patients with HIV were taking less than the total number of antiretroviral pills prescribed by their physician. Change in viral load was used as the criterion for validity analyses. Self-reported adherence, viral load and CD4 cell count were assessed at T0 (baseline), T3 (3-month), and T6 (6-month). The findings indicated that the questionnaire had adequate validity (sensitivity, 71%; specificity, 72%; correct classification, 72%; odd ratio, 6.15). These best values were obtained when the analyses excluded individuals with an unstable viral load and a CD4 cell count of less than 200 copies per milliliter over the 6-month follow-up period. This study has shown that this questionnaire has satisfactory psychometric qualities to assess nonadherence to antiretroviral medication among patients with HIV. The questionnaire is brief, simple, and can be used in both clinical or research settings regardless of the patients' antiretroviral regimens.

The Value of Support Group Participation in Influencing Adherence to Antiretroviral Treatment among People Living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

“…"; 3) "Did you miss your antiretroviral dose three days ago?". These questions were adopted from a tool developed and validated by Gagne & Naccache [19]. Respondents were asked to indicate by Yes or No whether on any of the past three days they had missed their morning/lunch or evening/dinner doses (for those not yet on fixed dose combinations) or their daily dose (for those on fixed dose combinations).…”

“…A few additional questions were developed to enlist responses peculiar to this study. The questionnaire included questions on: respondents' socio-demographic data (adopted from ORC Macro); PLHIV support group participation (developed by the researchers); and adherence to ART (adopted from a previously validated tool [19].…”

Assessing Self-Reported Adherence to HIV Therapy by Questionnaire: The SERAD (Self-Reported Adherence) Study

“…On the other hand, some studies use measurements pertaining to 3 or 4 days before the questionnaire, 10,15,16 although we considered that it was easier for the patient to remember 7 days, which is one week, rather than 4. Moreover, because some studies had shown good results with these three time settings, 17 the decision was finally taken to use these three measurements.…”

Improving medication adherence in patients with chronic disease using a targeted and tailored approach

“…Most of these adherence scales measure the number of doses taken 12,42,181,[184][185][186]189,195,196,199,206,208 and contain items such as "how many days over the past month did you take less than prescribed? 181 " and "did you miss a tablet yesterday?…”

“…12,53,55,60,156,187,[189][190][191][192]194,195,[197][198][199]208,210 The Medicines Adherence Questionnaire (MAQ), which is a simple 4-item questionnaire, has been validated in a broad range of diseases, including hypertension, dyslipidaemia, heart failure and Parkinson's disease. 18,37,293,294 Figure 2.2 Disease populations used to validate self-report adherence scales…”