Experiences of nurses in patient adherence to antiretoroviral therapy in Mpumalanga, South Africa

African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Experiences of nurses in patient adherence to antiretoroviral therapy in Mpumalanga, South Africa
 
Creator Moroko, Kabelo Janse van Rensburg, Zelda Jacobs, Wanda
 
Subject primary health care; HIV/AIDS; Antiretroviaral therapy primary health care; antiretroviral therapy; nurses; monitoring; adherence
Description Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a global health pandemic. Mpumalanga is a province with a high burden of HIV or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Antiretroviral (ARV) therapy should be initiated for all HIV-positive patients. Monitoring of patients’ adherence to ARV therapy is important to ensure continued viral suppression.Aim: The study aimed to report on the experiences of primary health care (PHC) nurses in monitoring patients’ adherence to ARV therapy in PHC facilities in Mpumalanga, South Africa.Setting: Six PHC clinics in a district in Mpumalanga were purposively selected.Methods: Employing a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive research design, 12 PHC nurses were interviewed in 2023. The data were coded, categorised and clustered into themes and categories. Ethical considerations and measures to ensure trustworthiness were adhered to.Results: The findings revealed four themes: PHC nurses’ experience in monitoring patients’ adherence to ARV therapy in PHC facilities, experience of external challenges influencing patient’s adherence to ARV therapy, experiences in internal challenges that influence patients’ ARV therapy adherence, and the consequences of non-monitoring and poor adherence.Conclusion: Non-adhering patients were seen to be the greatest challenge. More awareness regarding the central chronic medicine dispensing and distribution (CCMDD) programme and the development of guidelines on the support of PHC nurses and patients are recommended.Contribution: The findings of the study may guide recommendations to assist PHC nurses, PHC management and policy makers at large to address challenges in the monitoring and adherence of patients on ARV therapy.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2025-04-30
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Qualitative research
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/phcfm.v17i1.4841
 
Source African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine; Vol 17, No 1 (2025); 9 pages 2071-2936 2071-2928
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4841/8162 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4841/8163 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4841/8164 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4841/8165
 
Coverage Mpumalanga; South Africa May to June 2022 Primary health care nurses
Rights Copyright (c) 2025 Kabelo Moroko, Zelda Janse van Rensburg, Wanda Jacobs https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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