A descriptive, cross-sectional study examining treatment burden in people living with HIV.

Aim: (1) describe the percentage of people living with HIV (PLWH) experiencing high levels of treatment burden who are at risk for self-management non-adherence, and (2) examine the relationship between known antecedent correlates (the number of chronic conditions, social capital, and age) of self-management and treatment burden while controlling for sample socio-demographics.

Background: Chronic condition self-management is key to maintaining optimal health in the aging population of PLWH. Despite the efforts of providers, patients, and caregivers, self-management non-adherence is still a factor contributing to poor chronic condition self-management and subsequent poor health outcomes. Recent research has identified treatment burden as a risk factor of poor chronic disease self-management adherence.

Method: Cross-sectional, secondary analysis of a sub-sample of 103 community dwelling, men and women diagnosed with HIV/AIDS derived from a larger parent study examining physical activity patterns in PLWH.

Results: Participants reported an overall low level of treatment burden (M = 22.84; SD = 24.57), although 16% (n = 16) of the sample indicated experiencing high treatment burden. The number of chronic conditions (r = 0.25; p ≤ .01) and social capital (r = -0.19; p = .03) were significantly correlated with treatment burden. Multivariate analysis testing known antecedent correlates of treatment burden was statistically significant (p < .05), but only explained 8% of treatment burden's variance.

Conclusion: Findings have implications for nursing care of PLWH demonstrating a subset of PLWH experience high treatment burden related to chronic condition self-management. Findings also identify characteristics of PLWH who may be at high risk for treatment burden and subsequent self-management non-adherence.