Adherence Program
Overview
This program supports research to develop and test theory-driven behavioral interventions to improve adherence to medication therapies and other treatments to reduce the risk of HIV transmission and promote healthy lifestyle choices, encourage the cessation of high-risk behaviors, and investigate and promote strategies to protect the health of infected individuals and others in their communities.
Areas of Emphasis
- Determine the relationship(s) among disease stage, individual difference characteristics, treatment response, and how adherence is related to treatment outcomes throughout the course of the treatment, illness, and interventions.
- Identify/Characterize treatment provider-caregiver-consumer alliances, how these interrelationships affect adherence to medication regimens, and identification of the active ingredients of effective alliances.
- Identify beneficial and deleterious behavior risk changes that occur as a result of HIV therapy and of the factors that influence long-term therapeutic effectiveness, development of viral resistance, disease progression, and medical outcomes in high-risk individuals.
- Improve the effectiveness of staff training in consumer education to promote adherence and to understand how integrated service delivery systems contribute to effective consumer adherence.
- Refine measurement of ART adherence (e.g., studies that account for the myriad of biological and health behavioral that can influence CD4 count and viral load, in the context of treatment and adherence interventions, to identify appropriate intervention outcomes).
- Identify economic and other structural barriers or facilitators to ART, and studies of the relationships between these factors and adherence in the context of other competing demands.
Contact
Michael J. Stirratt, Ph.D.
Program Officer
6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 6199, MSC 9619
301-443-6802, stirrattm@mail.nih.gov
