Barriers to HIV/AIDS treatment and treatment adherence among African-American adults with disadvantaged education

African Americans are disproportionately affected by acquired immunodeficie ncy syndrome (AIDS). New treatments that slow the progression of human immu nodeficiency virus (HIV) infection offer hope for individuals living with H IV/AIDS, but lack of access to care and poor treatment adherence remain sig nificant obstacles to HIV treatment. This study investigated the associatio n between education literacy to HIV treatment adherence and barriers to car e among African Americans living with HIV/AIDS. A community-recruited sampl e of 85 African-American men and 53 women receiving HIV treatment completed measures of health literacy, health status, treatment adherence, emotional well-being, and barriers to care. Nearly one-third (29%) of the participan ts had <12 years of education or were functionally illiterate, and those wi th low-education literacy were less likely to be adherent to HIV medication s within the previous two days. Lower-education literacy also was related t o reasons for missing medications and barriers to accessing medical core. i ndividuals of low-education literacy also were more emotionally distressed, lacked social support, and were less optimistic than those with higher edu cation. These results indicate that education and health literacy are impor tant factors in HIV-treatment adherence and access to medical care. Interve ntions are needed for improving treatment adherence among low-income minori ties, and such interventions will need tailoring for individuals with limit ed reading ability.