Yummy or crummy?’ The multisensory components of medicines-taking among HIV-positive youth

Bibliographic Data

ID15540888
AuthorsRebecca Hodes (0000-0002-2502-803X, University of Cape Town, corresponding author), Brenda Vales (0000-0003-4289-2134, University of Cape Town), Elona Toska (0000-0002-3800-3173, University of Cape Town), Lucie D Cluver (0000-0002-0418-835X, University of Cape Town), Ros Dowse (0000-0001-9065-6668, Rhodes University), Mikael Ashorn (Tampere University)
Year2018
Volume14
Issue2
Pages284-299
Publication date2018-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGlobal Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1744-1692 • E-ISSN: 1744-1706
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17441692.2018.1504103
PMID30067457
OpenAlexW2887863842
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited34

The global rollout of Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) has revealed an urgent need to understand the medicines-taking practices of HIV-positive adolescents. In the last decade, the literature on the social determinants of health has broadened the evidence-base on ART adherence. Interdisciplinary studies have expanded conceptions of medicines-taking beyond clinical or health systems frameworks, recognising the importance of socio-structural conditions and of patients' beliefs and experiences. Participatory research techniques which foreground the perspectives of adolescents provide greater insights still into their adherence. This article explores the use of participatory methods within a broader study on the social determinants of ART adherence among HIV-positive adolescents in South Africa. We describe how participatory methods were incorporated into this study ( n = 1,059 in the quantitative baseline). We focus on an exercise, 'Yummy or crummy?', that explored the multisensory dimensions of medicines-taking, including their colour, smell, shape, and delivery mechanism. We describe two principal findings: first, adolescents' preference for greater understanding of the chemical workings of medicines, manifested in their preferences for colour, taste and shape of medicines; and second, the vital relationship between sensory preferences and the social imperatives of discretion and confidentiality regarding HIV-status

Citizen journalism · Family medicine · Focus group · Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV · Political science · Preference · Sociology · Taste · HIV Research and Treatment · HIV-related health complications and treatments · HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology