Challenges with seeking HIV care services: perspectives of older adults infected with HIV in western Kenya

BACKGROUND: While younger adults (15–49 years) form the majority of the population living with HIV, older adults (≥50 years) infected with HIV face multiple challenges related to the aging process and HIV. We explored the experiences of older persons infected with HIV at the Academic Model Providing...

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Autores principales: Kiplagat, Jepchirchir, Mwangi, Ann, Chasela, Charles, Huschke, Susann
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6624873/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31296195
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7283-2
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author Kiplagat, Jepchirchir
Mwangi, Ann
Chasela, Charles
Huschke, Susann
author_facet Kiplagat, Jepchirchir
Mwangi, Ann
Chasela, Charles
Huschke, Susann
author_sort Kiplagat, Jepchirchir
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: While younger adults (15–49 years) form the majority of the population living with HIV, older adults (≥50 years) infected with HIV face multiple challenges related to the aging process and HIV. We explored the experiences of older persons infected with HIV at the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) program in western Kenya to understand the challenges faced when seeking HIV care services. METHODS: Between November 2016 and April 2017, a total of 57 adults aged 50 years and above were recruited from two AMPATH facilities – one rural and one urban facility. A total of 25 in-depth interviews and four focus group discussions were conducted, audio-recorded, transcribed and thematic analysis performed. RESULTS: Study participants raised unique challenges with seeking HIV care that include visits to multiple healthcare providers to manage HIV and comorbidities and as a result impact on their adherence to medication and clinical visits. Challenges with inadequate quality of facilities and poor patient-provider communication were also raised. Participants’ preference for matched gender and older age for care providers that serve older patients were identified. CONCLUSION: Results indicate multiple challenges faced by older adults that need attention in ensuring continuous engagement in HIV care. Targeted HIV care for older adults would, therefore, significantly improve their access to and experience of HIV care. Of key importance is the integration of other chronic diseases into HIV care and employing staff that matches the needs of older adults. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-019-7283-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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spelling pubmed-66248732019-07-23 Challenges with seeking HIV care services: perspectives of older adults infected with HIV in western Kenya Kiplagat, Jepchirchir Mwangi, Ann Chasela, Charles Huschke, Susann BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: While younger adults (15–49 years) form the majority of the population living with HIV, older adults (≥50 years) infected with HIV face multiple challenges related to the aging process and HIV. We explored the experiences of older persons infected with HIV at the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) program in western Kenya to understand the challenges faced when seeking HIV care services. METHODS: Between November 2016 and April 2017, a total of 57 adults aged 50 years and above were recruited from two AMPATH facilities – one rural and one urban facility. A total of 25 in-depth interviews and four focus group discussions were conducted, audio-recorded, transcribed and thematic analysis performed. RESULTS: Study participants raised unique challenges with seeking HIV care that include visits to multiple healthcare providers to manage HIV and comorbidities and as a result impact on their adherence to medication and clinical visits. Challenges with inadequate quality of facilities and poor patient-provider communication were also raised. Participants’ preference for matched gender and older age for care providers that serve older patients were identified. CONCLUSION: Results indicate multiple challenges faced by older adults that need attention in ensuring continuous engagement in HIV care. Targeted HIV care for older adults would, therefore, significantly improve their access to and experience of HIV care. Of key importance is the integration of other chronic diseases into HIV care and employing staff that matches the needs of older adults. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-019-7283-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. BioMed Central 2019-07-11 /pmc/articles/PMC6624873/ /pubmed/31296195 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7283-2 Text en © The Author(s). 2019 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Kiplagat, Jepchirchir
Mwangi, Ann
Chasela, Charles
Huschke, Susann
Challenges with seeking HIV care services: perspectives of older adults infected with HIV in western Kenya
title Challenges with seeking HIV care services: perspectives of older adults infected with HIV in western Kenya
title_full Challenges with seeking HIV care services: perspectives of older adults infected with HIV in western Kenya
title_fullStr Challenges with seeking HIV care services: perspectives of older adults infected with HIV in western Kenya
title_full_unstemmed Challenges with seeking HIV care services: perspectives of older adults infected with HIV in western Kenya
title_short Challenges with seeking HIV care services: perspectives of older adults infected with HIV in western Kenya
title_sort challenges with seeking hiv care services: perspectives of older adults infected with hiv in western kenya
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6624873/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31296195
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7283-2
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