The I-Score Study: The development and validation of a patient-reported measure of antiretroviral therapy’s interference with life.

Many HIV-positive persons on HIV medication have trouble taking this medication as prescribed by their doctor (treatment adherence). This threatens the long-term ability of the drugs to preserve a patient’s health. For 1 in 5 in Canada, their medication does not work, in part because of adherence problems. Furthermore, doctors and their HIV-positive patients do not always discuss treatment difficulties and how to resolve them in sufficient depth. The I-Score Study is a 24-month research project that will develop a questionnaire to be filled out by patients as a part of routine HIV care. This questionnaire will concern factors that patients in France and Canada report interfere with their ability to take their HIV medication. Its aims are to ensure that care is more patient-centered and better addresses the challenges of lifelong adherence. With access to this Interference-Score, it is expected that patient-doctor communication about adherence will improve; adherence problems will be more quickly identified and addressed; treatments will be better adapted to patients’ needs and concerns;
and ultimately, adherence difficulties will be reduced.

Faculty Supervisor:

Bertrand Lebouché

Student:

Andras Lenart, Isabelle Toupin, David Lessard

Partner:

Merck Canada Inc.

Discipline:

Medicine

Sector:

Pharmaceuticals

University:

McGill University