HIV Medication Adherence among People Living with HIV in Latvia

The goal of the study was to assess adherence to antiretroviral therapy among people living with HIV (PLWHIV) in Latvia, as well as to explore barriers and facilitators to adherence from both patients’ and experts’ perspectives. Data were collected from 27 November 2024 to 21 August 2025 through a mixed-methods design. The quantitative part consisted of 375 questionnaires, of which 372 were valid after excluding respondents not meeting inclusion criteria or with missing adherence data, collected from 27 November 2024 to 27 June 2025. The questionnaire included questions on demographic information, adherence measured with the Simplified Medication Adherence Questionnaire (SMAQ), and self-reported reasons for missed doses. The questionnaire also included items on tuberculosis, designed for another study. The qualitative part included 20 semi-structured interviews with PLWHIV about their experiences with HIV, challenges, and strategies related to adherence, and 12 interviews with doctors and experts regarding adherence and their professional experience in the HIV field, collected from 17 April 2025 to 21 August 2025. The study was funded by the National Research Program “Public Health 2023–2025” under the project “New Knowledge and Approaches to Reduce Antimicrobial Resistance, Limit the Spread of HIV, and Expand Community Vaccination Coverage” (VPP-VM-Sabiedrības_Veselība-2023/5-0001).

本研究旨在评估拉脱维亚人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV）感染者（People Living with HIV, PLWHIV）对抗逆转录病毒疗法的依从性，并从患者与专家双重视角探索影响治疗依从性的阻碍因素与促进因素。本研究采用混合研究设计（mixed-methods design），数据收集时段为2024年11月27日至2025年8月21日。其中定量研究部分共发放375份问卷，剔除不符合纳入标准或缺失依从性相关数据的受访者后，有效问卷共计372份，该部分数据的实际收集时段为2024年11月27日至2025年6月27日。问卷内容涵盖人口统计学信息、采用简化药物依从性问卷（Simplified Medication Adherence Questionnaire, SMAQ）评估的治疗依从性，以及自我报告的漏服药物原因；此外，问卷中还包含为另一项研究设计的结核病相关条目。定性研究部分包含两类访谈：其一为针对20名HIV感染者开展的半结构化访谈，内容涉及HIV感染相关经历、治疗依从性相关挑战及应对策略；其二为针对12名医生及领域专家的访谈，围绕治疗依从性及他们在HIV领域的从业经验展开，两类访谈的数据收集时段均为2025年4月17日至2025年8月21日。本研究由国家研究计划“公共卫生2023–2025”资助，具体项目为“降低抗菌药物耐药性、遏制HIV传播及扩大社区疫苗接种覆盖率的新知识与新方法”（项目编号：VPP-VM-Sabiedrības_Veselība-2023/5-0001）。