School-based support, coping and adherence to antiretroviral therapy among school going adolescents living with HIV

Abstract

This study on school based support among school going youth living with HIV has an enduring appeal, accounted for by the immense implications of a chronic illness on the physical and psychological development of an individual who is at the critical stage of transition from childhood to adolescence. The researcher purposed to investigate the relationship between school-based support, coping and adherence to ART among school going YLWH using a cross sectional research design involving 177 respondents between the ages of 13 -19 years. The correlational analysis of the results revealed positive and significant relationships between school-based support, problem focused coping, emotion focused coping and adherence. However, the study found no significant association between school based support and avoidant focused coping and also evidence from the data suggested that emotion focused coping and avoidant focused coping are non-mediating variables of the relationship between school based support and adherence which is counterfactual to an earlier hypothesized mediating role. The scientific clues within the study implied that coping and the accompanying strategies are indiscrete events, interwoven with the role played by the covariates such as age, duration on medication and other factors such as the timing of the coping strategy as favored by an individual. The study therefore recommends that interaction of these factors and the associated outcomes deserve deeper scrutiny in order for all stakeholders to appreciate the motivating circumstances that impose the adoption of the different coping ways among YLWH even in the apparent absence of their direct impact on adherence. In a nutshell, any interventions geared towards making positive changes in the lives of YLWH must gravitate towards concretizing the role of school in establishing credible, adequate and sustainable support systems that will empower the YLWH.