Predicting adherence to combination antiretroviral therapy for HIV in Tanzania: A test of an extended theory of planned behaviour model.

Objectives: Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) for HIV is widely available in sub-Saharan Africa. Adherence is crucial to successful treatment. This study aimed to apply an extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model to predict objectively measured adherence to cART in Tanzania.

Stigma, disclosure, coping, and medication adherence among people living with HIV/AIDS in Northern Tanzania.

This study examines a proposed theoretical model examining the interrelationships between stigma, disclosure, coping, and medication adherence among 158 HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in northern Tanzania. Perceived and self-stigma, voluntary and involuntary disclosure, positive and negative coping, and demographics were assessed by trained interviewers, and self-reported adherence was collected during 5 months follow-up. Data were examined using correlation and regression analyses.

Internalised homonegativity predicts HIV-associated risk behavior in European men who have sex with men in a 38-country cross-sectional study: some public health implications of homophobia.

Objectives: Internalised homonegativity (IH) is hypothesised to be associated with HIV risk behaviour and HIV testing in men who have sex with men (MSM). We sought to determine the social and individual variables associated with IH and the associations between IH and HIV-related behaviours.

Design And Setting: We examined IH and its predictors as part of a larger Internet-delivered, cross-sectional study on HIV and health in MSM in 38 European countries.

HIV-related knowledge and attitudes among Indonesian prison officers.

Purpose: Prison officers have a vital role in running a secure and healthy living environment for the inmates. The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between HIV/AIDS-related knowledge and attitude towards inmates living with HIV among the officers in an Indonesian narcotics prison.

Design/methodology/approach: A total of 93 officers from a narcotics prison in Bandung, Indonesia voluntarily participated in this cross-sectional study by completing a self-reported questionnaire.

Determinants of antiretroviral therapy adherence in northern Tanzania: a comprehensive picture from the patient perspective.

Background: To design effective, tailored interventions to support antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence, a thorough understanding of the barriers and facilitators of ART adherence is required. Factors at the individual and interpersonal level, ART treatment characteristics and health care factors have been proposed as important adherence determinants.

Methods: To identify the most relevant determinants of adherence in northern Tanzania, in-depth interviews were carried out with 61 treatment-experienced patients from four different clinics.

Self-regulatory processes mediate the intention-behavior relation for adherence and exercise behaviors.

Objectives: Understanding the gap between people's intentions and actual health behavior is an important issue in health psychology. Our aim in this study was to investigate whether self-regulatory processes (monitoring goal progress and responding to discrepancies) mediate the intention-behavior relation in relation to HIV medication adherence (Study 1) and intensive exercise behavior (Study 2).

Method: In Study 1, questionnaire and electronically monitored adherence data were collected at baseline and 3 months later from patients in the control arm of an HIV-adherence intervention study.

Measuring adherence to antiretroviral therapy in northern Tanzania: feasibility and acceptability of the Medication Event Monitoring System.

Background: An often-used tool to measure adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is the Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS), an electronic pill-cap that registers date and time of pill-bottle openings. Despite its strengths, MEMS-data can be compromised by inaccurate use and acceptability problems due to its design. These barriers remain, however, to be investigated in resource-limited settings.

Electronic monitoring-based counseling to enhance adherence among HIV-infected patients: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To investigated the effectiveness of an adherence intervention (AIMS) designed to fit HIV-clinics' routine care procedures.

Design: Through block randomization, patients were allocated to the intervention or control group. The study included 2 months baseline measurement, 3 months intervention, and 4 months follow-up.

Standard care impact on effects of highly active antiretroviral therapy adherence interventions: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Background: Poor adherence to medication limits the effectiveness of treatment for human immunodeficiency virus. Systematic reviews can identify practical and effective interventions. Meta-analyses that control for variability in standard care provided to control groups may produce more accurate estimates of intervention effects.

Standard care quality determines treatment outcomes in control groups of HAART-adherence intervention studies: implications for the interpretation and comparison of intervention effects.

Objective: Clinical trials of behavioral interventions seek to enhance evidence-based health care. However, in case the quality of standard care provided to control conditions varies between studies and affects outcomes, intervention effects cannot be directly interpreted or compared. The objective of the present study was to examine whether standard care quality (SCQ) could be reliably assessed, varies between studies of highly active antiretroviral HIV-adherence interventions, and is related to the proportion of patients achieving an undetectable viral load ("success rate").

Adding cognitive therapy to dietetic treatment is associated with less relapse in obesity.

Objective: The treatment of obesity is universally disappointing; although usually some weight loss is reported directly after treatment, eventual relapse to, or even above, former body weight is common. In this study it is tested whether the addition of cognitive therapy to a standard dietetic treatment for obesity might prevent relapse. It is argued that the addition of cognitive therapy might not only be effective in reducing weight and related concerns, depressed mood, and low self-esteem, but also has an enduring effect that lasts beyond the end of treatment.

Behavioral aspects of HIV prevention and care in Indonesia: A plea for a multi-disciplinary, theory- and evidence-based approach.

Projections estimate 1,000,000 HIV infected by 2015 in Indonesia. Key behaviors to HIV prevention and care are determined by a complex set of individual/ environmental factors. This paper presents empirical data, local evidence and theoretical concepts to determine the role of social sciences in HIV prevention/care.

Characteristics of subjects counseled and tested for HIV in an Indonesian hospital; factors associated with HIV-status and CD4 cell-count.

Aim: to identification the predictors of HIV-seropositivity and level of immunosuppression.

Methods: in a cross-sectional study, we examined HIV-testing practice, HIV-knowledge, perceived risk of being HIV-positive, and health status among out-patients enrolled in voluntary counseling and testing (VCT), and in-patients who underwent provider-initiated testing (PITC) in the largest teaching hospital in West Java, Indonesia.

Results: among 202 respondents, 47% were HIV+, and the median CD4 of HIV+ was 193/mm³ among VCT (n=124) and 11/mm³ among PITC (n=78).

HIV prevention through drugs and sex education in junior high schools in Bandung West Java: the teachers' perspective.

Aim: to explore the teacher perspective on needs (in terms of knowledge, skills and curriculum content), attitudes, beliefs and self-efficacy related to teaching and implementation of a reproductive health (RH)/drug education (DE) program at their own junior high school.

Methods: one hundred and thirty-three teachers participated in a survey, from February to April 2009, measuring: socio demographic, behavioral intention, perceived behavior control, content knowledge, school climate, reproductive health knowledge and school drug education.

Results: all teachers had a high intention to teach RH and DE, especially the younger RH teachers had a high intention to teach about teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

Early associations with palatable foods in overweight and obesity are not disinhibition related but restraint related.

Obese people prefer and overconsume high-fat foods. At the same time they often attempt to lose weight. In two studies we investigated relations between palatable high-fat food words and disinhibition related concepts (study 1) and palatable high-fat food words and restraint related concepts (study 2) within the semantic priming paradigm.

Systematic development of a self-help and motivational enhancement intervention to promote sexual health in HIV-positive men who have sex with men.

The objective of this study was to describe the application of a systematic process-Intervention Mapping-to developing a theory- and evidence-based intervention to promote sexual health in HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM). Intervention Mapping provides a framework that gives program planners a systematic method for decision-making in each phase of intervention development. In Step 1, we focused on the improvement of two health-promoting behaviors: satisfactory sexual functioning and safer sexual behavior.

One measure, two motives. Prediction of condom use and interaction between two prevention goals among heterosexual young adults: preventing pregnancy and/or sexually transmitted diseases.

Although the dual function of condom use (preventing pregnancy and preventing STDs) is well known, little is known about the determinants of condom use for STD prevention when contraception is not an issue. We compared two intentions to use condoms with a new sex partner: one based on a vignette not mentioning pregnancy risk and one on a vignette explicitly stating there was no risk of pregnancy. We also investigated whether intentions to use condoms change when there is no pregnancy risk, to allow such changes to be predicted from an STD risk-perception perspective.

Reasons for not taking an HIV-test among untested men who have sex with men: an Internet study.

The present paper focuses on reasons for not taking an HIV-test among untested men who have sex with men (MSM). From an MSM web-based survey, 1627 MSM who had never tested for HIV were selected for the reported analyses. Results show that fear of a positive test result and the perceived consequences thereof, are reported as the most important reasons for not taking an HIV-test among at-risk respondents.

Overweight and obesity: the significance of a depressed mood.

Objective: Comorbid depression has been found to increase morbidity in a variety of disorders. This study aimed to investigate whether the presence of depressive symptoms in overweight and obese people is related to increased specific eating psychopathology and decreased self-esteem.

Methods: Overweight/obese people seeking dietary treatment were grouped according to their scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), resulting in a mildly to moderately depressed group (BDI > or = 10; n = 66; the symptomatic group) and a non-depressed group (BDI < 10; n = 83).