Areness and support. Narratives from 19 participants in the high adherence group and eight in the moderate group illustrated a wide range of ZM241385 web partner involvement, from no partner engagement or knowledge of trial participation to active adherence support. Several participants (n = 8) described receiving encouraging and helpful support from their partners. These narratives focused primarily on situations in which the partner regularly reminded the participant to take her study pill: He would remind me that, “It is 10:00. Have you taken it?” After he had reminded me, I would take it. (Bondo, high group) My husband would tell me to drink them so that they can find out the results, you see? Just that me, when he wasn’t here, I didn’t drink them. I was lazy to fetch them. (Pretoria, high group) More participants (n = 14), however, described situations in which they disclosed their FEM-PrEP participation to their partners and their partners merely acquiesced to their pill use. In these situations, participants described that their partners’ knowledge of their trial participation helped them to adhere, simply because their partner did not discourage or interfere with taking the study pill. These participants said that they did not rely on their partners for adherence encouragement and support but described or implied that their partners’ awareness made it easier for them to adhere because their partners did not give them “any problems”: I gained courage and shared with my partner, and I did not get a lot of problems with him. So, I found it easy to take my pills. (Bondo, high group)PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0125458 April 13,11 /Facilitators of Study Pill Adherence in FEM-PrEPSupport? There was no support he was giving me at all. But the thing is he never stopped me. But, to remind me that today, “what about your pills?” That one was not in his mind at all. (Bondo, high group) A few participants (n = 5) in the high and moderate groups said they did not inform their partners of their participation in FEM-PrEP, primarily because they did not live with their partners or because their partners would not agree to their participation. Therefore, these participants did not describe receiving any assistance, support, or discouragement from their partners.Semi-Structured Interviews: Perceptions of Reasons for Other Participants’ AdherenceParticipants described reasons similar to the themes above when they spoke about facilitators to adherence among other participants. One additional reason emerged that was rarely mentioned (n = 4) when participants described their own motivations: taking the study pill prior to a study visit to appear adherent. Although participants mentioned this reason only when talking about other participants who were inconsistent adherers (versus high adherers), 28 participants (23 were from Pretoria) said they believed participants took the study pill immediately before their next FT011 cost follow-up visit to ensure that the drug was in their blood sample.ACASIIn both sites, the most frequent reason given during ACASI for taking the study pill was to help answer the research question on whether FTC/TDF can prevent HIV (94 , n = 161) (Table 2). Many participants were also motivated to take the study pill because they believed it would provide protection against HIV (77 , n = 132) or because they believed that they were assigned FTC/TDF during the trial (61 , n = 105). Having a perception of high HIV risk also served as a motivating f.Areness and support. Narratives from 19 participants in the high adherence group and eight in the moderate group illustrated a wide range of partner involvement, from no partner engagement or knowledge of trial participation to active adherence support. Several participants (n = 8) described receiving encouraging and helpful support from their partners. These narratives focused primarily on situations in which the partner regularly reminded the participant to take her study pill: He would remind me that, “It is 10:00. Have you taken it?” After he had reminded me, I would take it. (Bondo, high group) My husband would tell me to drink them so that they can find out the results, you see? Just that me, when he wasn’t here, I didn’t drink them. I was lazy to fetch them. (Pretoria, high group) More participants (n = 14), however, described situations in which they disclosed their FEM-PrEP participation to their partners and their partners merely acquiesced to their pill use. In these situations, participants described that their partners’ knowledge of their trial participation helped them to adhere, simply because their partner did not discourage or interfere with taking the study pill. These participants said that they did not rely on their partners for adherence encouragement and support but described or implied that their partners’ awareness made it easier for them to adhere because their partners did not give them “any problems”: I gained courage and shared with my partner, and I did not get a lot of problems with him. So, I found it easy to take my pills. (Bondo, high group)PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0125458 April 13,11 /Facilitators of Study Pill Adherence in FEM-PrEPSupport? There was no support he was giving me at all. But the thing is he never stopped me. But, to remind me that today, “what about your pills?” That one was not in his mind at all. (Bondo, high group) A few participants (n = 5) in the high and moderate groups said they did not inform their partners of their participation in FEM-PrEP, primarily because they did not live with their partners or because their partners would not agree to their participation. Therefore, these participants did not describe receiving any assistance, support, or discouragement from their partners.Semi-Structured Interviews: Perceptions of Reasons for Other Participants’ AdherenceParticipants described reasons similar to the themes above when they spoke about facilitators to adherence among other participants. One additional reason emerged that was rarely mentioned (n = 4) when participants described their own motivations: taking the study pill prior to a study visit to appear adherent. Although participants mentioned this reason only when talking about other participants who were inconsistent adherers (versus high adherers), 28 participants (23 were from Pretoria) said they believed participants took the study pill immediately before their next follow-up visit to ensure that the drug was in their blood sample.ACASIIn both sites, the most frequent reason given during ACASI for taking the study pill was to help answer the research question on whether FTC/TDF can prevent HIV (94 , n = 161) (Table 2). Many participants were also motivated to take the study pill because they believed it would provide protection against HIV (77 , n = 132) or because they believed that they were assigned FTC/TDF during the trial (61 , n = 105). Having a perception of high HIV risk also served as a motivating f.
