A Multilevel Conceptual Framework to Understand the Role of Food Insecurity on Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence in Low-Resource Settings: From Theory to Practice

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to describe a multilevel conceptual framework to understand the role of food insecurity on antiretroviral therapy adherence. The authors illustrated an example of how they used the multilevel framework to develop an intervention for poor people living with HIV in a rural and low-resource community. The framework incorporates intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural-level theories of understanding and changing health behaviors. The framework recognizes the role of personal, social, and environmental factors on cognition and behavior, with particular attention to ways in which treatment adherence is enabled or prevented by structural conditions, such as food insecurity.

KEYWORDS:

• Food insecurity
• antiretroviral therapy adherence
• HIV
• theory
• intrapersonal
• interpersonal
• structural