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Couple Interdependence Impacts Alcohol Use and Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy in Malawi

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Abstract

In sub-Saharan Africa, harmful alcohol use among male drinkers is high and has deleterious consequences on adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART), HIV clinical outcomes, and couple relationship dynamics. We conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 25 Malawian couples on ART to understand how relationships influence adherence to ART, in which alcohol use emerged as a major theme. Almost half of men (40%) reported current or past alcohol use. Although alcohol use was linked to men’s non-adherence, women buffered this harm by encouraging husbands to reduce alcohol use and by offering adherence support when men were drinking. Men’s drinking interfered with being an effective treatment guardian for wives on ART and also weakened couple support systems needed for adherence. Relationship challenges including food insecurity, intimate partner violence, and extramarital relationships appeared to exacerbate the negative consequences of alcohol use on ART adherence. In this setting, alcohol may be best understood as a couple-level issue. Alcohol interventions for people living with HIV should consider approaches that jointly engage both partners.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the tireless efforts of the research staff at Invest in Knowledge in Malawi for data collection.

Funding

This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health under Grants K01MH107331 and T32DA13911.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Prevention Sciences, 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

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

    Stacey A. McKenna

  3. Department of Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Allison Ruark

Authors
  1. Amy A. Conroy
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  2. Stacey A. McKenna
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Correspondence to Amy A. Conroy.

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There are no conflicts of interest for any of the study authors.

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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.

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

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Conroy, A.A., McKenna, S.A. & Ruark, A. Couple Interdependence Impacts Alcohol Use and Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy in Malawi. AIDS Behav 23, 201–210 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-018-2275-2

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