Factors Influencing Effectiveness of Peer Education Against Nonadherence to Antiretroviral Therapy Among Adult People Living with HIV/AIDS: A Pre-Post Intervention Study in Arsi Zone, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Nonadherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) among people with HIV/AIDS can lead to drug resistance and death. Different studies have defined nonadherence, and it denotes at least one missed dose of ART within 28 days. One of the strategies to prevent nonadherence to ART could be peer education. However, published studies which test out whether or not peer education is effective for prevention of nonadherence to ART among adults living with HIV were not available. Moreover, published studies on factors discussing the success of peer education against nonadherence to ART were not available, so we conducted this study. OBJECTIVES: To determine effectiveness of peer education against nonadherence to ART and identify factors influencing the effectiveness of peer education for prevention of nonadherence to ART among people living with HIV/AIDS in Arsi zone, Ethiopia. METHODS: An institution based pre-post intervention study was conducted. The intervention was giving peer education for three months. Frequencies and percentages were used to describe the data. Binary and multivariate logistic regressions were used to assess the variables. RESULTS: The data was collected from 355 and 319 people with HIV/AIDS at pre- and post-intervention stages, respectively. Experiencing an ART side effect, reminder to take ART, gender, marital status and monthly income were associated with nonadherence. More study participants who had not useda reminder to take ART service missed at least one dose of ART when compared to those who used a reminder to take ART service (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) =6.21; 95% CI=2.12–18.20). CONCLUSION: Experiencing a side effect of ART influenced effectiveness of peer education negatively while using reminder to take ART influenced effectiveness positively. Peer education is effective for reduction of nonadherence to ART if it is used with reminder to take ART. This study can be a base for further studies that should be conducted in various areas, since peer education can be influenced by sociodemographic and economic factors.