Faculty Articles

Neurocognition, health-related reading literacy, and numeracy in medication management for HIV infection.

Publication Title

AIDS Patient Care and STDs

Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

ISSN

1087-2914

Publication Date

8-1-2010

Keywords

Adult, Anti-HIV Agents, Cognition Disorders, Educational Status, Female, Florida, HIV Infections, Health Literacy, Humans, Male, Medication Adherence, Middle Aged, Neuropsychological Tests, Patient Education as Topic, Reading, Self Care

Abstract

Successful medication management is an essential ingredient for effective treatment for HIV. Risk factors for poor medication adherence, including neurocognitive impairment and low health literacy, are common in HIV patients. To better understand the most salient risks for poor management of HIV medications, we tested the interrelation of neurocognitive functioning, reading literacy for health related information, and numeracy and their effect on self-management of a simulated HIV medication regimen. Cross-sectional data on 191 HIV-positive men and women recruited from HIV outpatient clinics in South Florida were collected. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted with literacy, numeracy, and neurocognitive scores and suggested that four factors were present representing executive skill, verbal memory, planning, and motor speed. Both the literacy and numeracy scores loaded on the executive factor. Adjusted analyses showed that executive and planning skills were significantly related to medication management. Findings suggest that patients must rely on higher order cognitive skills to successfully navigate medication self-management, and that efforts to simplify health information that merely lowers readability are likely to meet with limited success.

DOI

10.1089/apc.2009.0300

Volume

24

Issue

8

First Page

477

Last Page

484

Disciplines

Medical Specialties | Medicine and Health Sciences | Osteopathic Medicine and Osteopathy

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Peer Reviewed

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