Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) Recipients’ Knowledge, Attitudes, Beliefs and Treatment Outcome Nexus

Abstract

In this study the relationship between treatment outcomes and antiretroviral treatment (ART) recipients’ knowledge, attitudes and beliefs towards HIV/AIDS was analysed. The study employed the positivist paradigm, guided by the Health Belief Model in explaining the intricate relationship between disease, sick-role behaviour and the expected outcome of treatment. The target population comprised ART recipients at Mthatha, South Africa. This study made use of a purposive sample of 112 participants, inclusive of male and female adult recipients. The respondents in this study raised a number of positive and negative issues. The results of the study revealed a significant relationship between ART recipients’ knowledge of HIV/AIDS treatment, their view that taking HIV drugs is a waste of time, and the recipients’ results of HIV/AIDS treatment. This implies that a significant difference exists between those who have a better CD4, the same CD4, and a worse CD4, based on their knowledge about taking ARVs. The study did not establish a significant relationship between treatment outcomes and some variables of recipients’ attitudes towards HIV/AIDS, which means there is no difference between the recipients based on all the attitude variables. While a significant difference exists among recipients of different treatment outcomes (CD4 counts), based on their belief that “Having HIV is a death sentence,” no significant difference was found among recipients of different CD4 counts based on their beliefs, such as: whether HIV treatment prolongs life; if a traditional healer can heal HIV; if prayer can heal HIV; that HIV has serious consequences on health; and that practising preventive actions can reduce HIV transmission.