The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.3 aims to end AIDS by 2030. This brief provides an update on the progress in relation to HIV prevention, testing and t: reatment. This study, therefore investigated the effect of cognitive behavioural therapy on adherence to anti-retroviral drugs among people living with HIV/AIDS in Lagos State. The population for the study was people living with HIV/AIDS in selected local government areas in Lagos State where two hundred participants participated in this study. The study utilizes two group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental research design. After administering a pre-test, the participants were taken through series of nurse-led psycho-educational programme of CBT on adherence to anti-retroviral drug among people living with HIV/AIDS, after which a post test was administered. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. T-test and ANOVA were used to test the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed a significant difference in the mean level of adherence to antiretroviral drugs (mean difference = 10.77, t(193) = 9.437, p = .000<.05) among people living with HIV/AIDS in the experimental and control groups. A significant difference was found in the effect of cognitive behavioural therapy and control on people living with HIV/AIDS anti-retroviral drug adherence (F(1,144) = 7.666; p = .000<0.05). The study concluded that CBT is useful for a clinical diagnosis and clinical outcomes. It is therefore recommended among others that healthcare facilities and policymakers should incorporate CBT as a standard component of HIV/AIDS management to enhance adherence to antiretroviral therapy.
Keywords: Adherence, Anti-retroviral drug, Cognitive behaviour therapy, HIV/AIDS
