This paper presents the qualitative investigation and analysis of representations constructed by 29 patients on the experience of their participation in a psychosocial intervention to improve adherence to antiretroviral treatment. The intervention was performed at a reference service in STD/AIDS of the State of São Paulo (Brazil). Long, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the patients in order to apprehend, understand and explain the relationship between the patients’ everyday life and their adherence to treatment, investigating if, how and why the experience lived during the intervention transformed this relationship. The resulting qualitative analysis indicates that, by raising the patients’ awareness of the importance of (self)care regarding the prescribed and continued use of medication, the intervention enabled the patients to learn their own ways of including adherence in their everyday life, and they may transform it through the improvement in this adherence.
Aids/treatment; Patient adherence; Everyday life; Representations; Psychosocial intervention
