Stigma and Anxiety Levels With Adherence on the Treatment Schedule Patient With HIV/AIDS in Indonesia

Introduction: The stigma related with HIV/AIDS poses a psychological challenge to people living with HIV/AIDS. Adherence to the treatment schedule is very important to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS. Stigmatization is a social problem that affects physical health. As a result, the patients are anxious and react negatively to medication adherence. This study analyzes the stigma, anxiety, and adherence to treatment schedules for HIV/AIDS patients in Surabaya, Indonesia. Methods: : The present study used correlational research, involving 97 respondents, chosen by simple random sampling. The instruments of stigma variable used Berger HIV Stigma scale, variable of anxiety used Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (ZSAS), and variable of adherence to treatment schedules used modified Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-8 (MMAS-8) in which all instruments used have been tested for validity with the Cronbach’s alpha value > 0.90. Data analysis used the Spearman rho test with the p-value ≤ 0.05. Results: The results show that there is a relationship between stigma (p-value = 0.012) and anxiety level (p-value= 0.02) with adherence to treatment schedules for patients. There is a negative relationship between the stigma and the level of anxiety with treatment schedules in patients. Conclusion: The implication of the research is that stigma and anxiety levels affect the HIV/AIDS patients’ treatment schedules. This research suggests that health workers need to provide more coping strategies and educational updates at the beginning of ARV (Antiretroviral) treatment along with the initiation of family gathering activities, and assess the anxiety symptoms of a patient during the therapy so that the patient will adhere to treatment schedules.