| Summary: | The thesis examines factors that influence, directly or indirectly, the adherence and compliance to treatment among HIV/AIDS patients. HAART ensures long-term therapeutic effects and high quality of life, as long as the patients comply with the recommendations of their physicians and adhere to the prescribed medication regimens. In case of suboptimal adherence, the patients are under risk of developing resistance to the particular medication or even an entire class of ARV drugs. Still, there is a substantial number of patients who fail to adhere and to take their medication consistently, risking thereby not only drug resistance but a severe deterioration in their health status as well. The thesis uses qualitative methodology to explore both barriers and facilitators of adherence among HIV/AIDS patients in the Czech Republic. Such a research on Czech population has not been carried out as yet. The results are compared with the outcomes of foreign studies. Mills meta-analysis (2006) of 84 published research papers dealing with the subject of adherence among HIV/AIDS patients served as the basis for comparison. Key words: adherence, compliance, HAART, resistence, barriers to adherence, facilitators to adherence
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