Abstract
Psychosocial variables in the antiretroviral treatment adherence in methadone maintenance patients. The object of this paper has been to explore the relationship between adherence to antiretroviral treatment and any of the psychological and social variables from a sample of 100 HIV injection drug user (IDU) patients, under a methadone maintenance program. The sample has been split into adherents and no-adherents according to the time intervals (previous day, week and month) and the degrees of compliance (high or low demand). The relationship that certain psychological variables presented was subsequently analysed. The perceived self-efficacy along with the perceived effort necessary can act as an adherence predictor. Similarly the patients' perceived self-efficacy depends on the support provided by the drug addiction centre, on the frequency the patients attend the centre and on having the treatment automated, and finally on the anxiety variables experienced. We detected a significant statistical relationship with all these variables under adherence.
