Standard of Care for Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence and Retention in Care from the Perspective of Care Providers Attending the 5th International Conference on HIV Treatment Adherence

Abstract

To characterize standard clinical care for antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence and retention in HIV-care support strategies among care providers attending the 2010 5th International Conference on HIV Treatment Adherence. A brief survey was included in conference packets, covering adherence monitoring and support strategies and retention in care strategies used in standard clinical care. A total of 51 attendees returned surveys, representing clinical care provided to over 25 000 patients. Common adherence support strategies used included individual/group counseling, case management/systems navigation, and pillbox organizers. Common retention strategies were transportation assistance, reminder calls, and system navigation support. This small sample, likely representative of higher end quality adherence and retention care, suggests that strategies for monitoring/promoting these behaviors are well-recognized as important and diversely addressed. With most respondents feeling that improvements are needed, the potential for collaborative efforts between practice and research communities that emphasize practice-based evidence and better dissemination and implementation of research are needed.