Assessment Of The Feasibility Of Using Text Messages Among Art Follow-up Patients To Improve Drug Adherence In Selected Art Units In Addis Ababa City Administration.

AbstractrnBack ground: PLWHA on ART follow –up individuals may or may not have mobile phones, rnability to use text messages and willingness to receive text message reminders to take theirrndrugs .But the extent of theses desires and how it varies by individual, social, health and rndemographic characteristics is not well understood. rn rnObjective: to assess the feasibility of using text messages among ART follow up patients to rnimprove drug adherence in selected ART units in Addis Ababa city administration rn rnMethod: The study was undertaken from March to April 2010, using quantitative cross-sectional rnstudy supplemented by qualitative in-depth interview on a sample of 461 PLWHA on ART rnfollow up care for quantitative and 14 respondents for qualitative. Study subjects were selectedrnusing stratified random sampling method. A pre- tested structured questionnaire was used to rncollect data; Data were entered, cleaned, and analyzed using SPSS version 16 rnResult- One hundred twenty five (82.8%) male and ninety-three (79.5%) female over all 218rn(81.3 %) of the total respondents PLWHA on ART follow-up in Addis Ababa were willing tornreceive (SMS) text message reminders. Of those who have willingness to receive text messagernreminders had disclosure of HIV status to their partner or family with (adjusted OR: 0.03, 95%CIrn:( 0.01-0.08) times more likely willing to receive SMS text message reminders than those whorndid not disclose their HIV status. In addition, respondents who attended elementary schoolrn(adjusted OR: 8.21, 95% CI: 1.59-42.33) times more likely to receive text message than thosernwho do not attended school and those who secondary school (adjusted OR: 58.65, 95% CI:rn12.18-280.12) times more likely to receive text messages than those who did not attended school. rnOne hundred forty eight (68.2%) of PLWHA on ART follow-up individuals wanted to receive rntext message reminders of time to take their drugs rn rnConclusion: High proportion of HIV positive individuals on ART follow-up wanted to receiverntext message reminders, of time to take their drugs. Their willingness to receive text messagernreminders of these people has implication to introduce or adoption (SMS) text message rntechnology with designed special computer software program that automatically sends special rnmessage service ) $ * to improve drug adherence.

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