ArticlePloS one2025
Healthcare providers' experiences and recommendations for antiretroviral therapy adherence in Ghana: A facility-based phenomenological study.
Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Indigenous Knowledge and Food-Based Coping Mechanisms for ART Side Effects: A Qualitative Inquiry.AIDS research and treatment · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn Ghana, poor treatment adherence among persons living with HIV (PLHIV) affects the effective treatment and management of HIV/AIDS. A key limitation in addressing the antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence challenge is the skewed nature of the existing literature on the topic, as much of the research on ART adherence has focused on patient-reported experiences, failing to capture the perspectives of healthcare providers involved in ART delivery.
objectiveWe ascertained healthcare providers' perspectives on ART adherence among PLHIV and their proffered recommendations for improved ART retention in the Volta Region of Ghana.
methodsA total of eighteen healthcare providers offering ART services to PLHIV in the Volta Region of Ghana were purposefully recruited from five HIV sentinel sites and interviewed. The data was thematically analyzed using ATLAS.ti.
resultsThe health workers' experiences were categorized under seven thematic areas. These included difficulties in accessing healthcare providers, improvements in adherence to treatment, people who have interrupted treatment often being new clients, general improvements in health outcomes, financial challenges, persistent stigmatization, and varied levels of family awareness about clients' status. The reasons for treatment interruption were categorized into fifteen areas. These factors included appointment intervals, healthcare workers, medication shortages, long waiting times, clients' distance from the facility, forgetfulness, drug characteristics, financial challenges, stigmatization, drug side effects, lack of donor support, alternative treatment choices, misconceptions about HIV cures, and the location of the ART clinic within the health facility. Participants recommended making health facilities/ART sites accessible to communities, increased advocacy on HIV by PLHIV, extended appointment intervals, continuous availability of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), community support in the treatment of HIV, improved counseling, public education on HIV to reduce stigmatization, government support, home dispensing of ARVs, regulating the activities of traditional herbalists and faith-based healers, and the encouragement of religious bodies in ART adherence education for improved ART uptake. The ART-related challenges identified by the healthcare providers should be addressed by both the Ghana Health Service and the Ghana AIDS Commission to improve ART uptake and adherence in the Volta Region and across the country if Ghana is to end the HIV pandemic by 2030, as set by UNAIDS.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.