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“If She is Drunk, I Don’t Want Her to Take it”: Partner Beliefs and Influence on Use of Alcohol and Antiretroviral Therapy in South African Couples

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Abstract

Alcohol consumption and beliefs about mixing alcohol and ART are associated with decreased adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART). In this study, we examined how romantic partners influence alcohol and ART use. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 24 HIV-positive individuals and their primary partners (48 individuals) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Almost 17% of participants spontaneously expressed beliefs that alcohol and ART should not be mixed. Participants who held these beliefs influenced their partners’ behaviors by either discouraging the mixing of alcohol and ART, which sometimes resulted in missed pills when drinking, or by helping partners manage their medications when drinking. Other participants encouraged partners to take ART no matter what. Messages on alcohol and ART may need to be refined for ART patients who cannot abstain from alcohol. Primary partners should be included in these education efforts and their influence could be leveraged to help reduce alcohol consumption and maintain adherence.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a Grant from the National Institutes of Health, University of California San Francisco, Gladstone Institute of Virology & Immunology Center for AIDS Research (P30-AI022763). AAC was supported by Grants (T32MH019105; K01MH107331) from the National Institute of Mental Health. MOJ was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (K24DA037034). We would also like to thank the couples who participated in the study and the tireless efforts of the research staff at the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California San Francisco, 550 16th Street 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Amy A. Conroy, Mallory O. Johnson & Lynae A. Darbes

  2. Stacey McKenna, LLC, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Stacey A. McKenna

  3. Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MI, USA

    Anna Leddy

  4. Human Sciences Research Council, Human and Social Development Programme, Durban, South Africa

    Thulani Ngubane & Heidi van Rooyen

  5. Department of Health Behavior and Biological Sciences, and Center for Sexuality and Health Disparities, School of Nursing, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Lynae A. Darbes

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  1. Amy A. Conroy
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Correspondence to Amy A. Conroy.

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Conflict of Interest

Amy Conroy, Stacey McKenna, Anna Leddy, Mallory Johnson, Thulani Ngubane, Lynae Darbes and Heidi Van Rooyen declares no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Conroy, A.A., McKenna, S.A., Leddy, A. et al. “If She is Drunk, I Don’t Want Her to Take it”: Partner Beliefs and Influence on Use of Alcohol and Antiretroviral Therapy in South African Couples. AIDS Behav 21, 1885–1891 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-017-1697-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-017-1697-6

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