Patient-Provider Relationships in HIV Care

The relationship between patients living with HIV and the healthcare professionals who care for them underpins every aspect of the care continuum, from diagnosis to long-term treatment and survivorship. Establishing trust and culturally sensitive communication fosters open dialogue about adherence, psychosocial challenges and structural barriers, and enables shared decision-making. In settings of resource limitation, time constraints and social stigma, clinicians who adopt a patient-centred approach can mitigate power imbalances by recognising each patient’s lived experiences, priorities and concerns. Equally, patients who perceive empathy, respect and recognition of their autonomy are more likely to engage consistently with antiretroviral therapy, attend follow-up appointments and disclose relevant information about comorbidities or mental health. Recent evidence highlights that interventions to strengthen patient–provider rapport, such as motivational interviewing sessions, peer support and navigation services, yield measurable improvements in viral suppression rates and quality of life. Beyond the encounter itself, structural and systemic factors—such as institutional trust, social determinants of health and provider training—shape the tenor of interactions, often intersecting with race, gender and socioeconomic status. Global approaches emphasise the need for scalable models that embed cultural competency, structural awareness and resource-sensitive strategies to enhance adherence and retention in care.

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Patient-Provider Relationships in HIV Care publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in patient-provider relationships in hiv care across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Antiretroviral therapy (ART): The pharmaceutical regimen used to suppress HIV replication and maintain immune function.

Viral suppression: The reduction of HIV viral load in the blood to undetectable levels, reflecting effective ART adherence.

Motivational interviewing: A patient-centred counselling technique aimed at eliciting and strengthening personal motivation for change.

Patient persona: The set of behaviours and attributes perceived by providers as indicative of an ideal-compliant patient.

Structural barriers: Systemic factors—such as policy, socioeconomic constraints and institutional practices—that hinder access to care.

References

1. ‘I am treated well if I adhere to my HIV medication’: putting patient–provider interactions in context through insights from qualitative research in five sub-Saharan African countries. Sexually Transmitted Infections (2017).
2. A good patient? How notions of ‘a good patient’ affect patient-nurse relationships and ART adherence in Zimbabwe. BMC Infectious Diseases (2015).
3. Advancing behavioral interventions for African American/Black and Latino persons living with HIV using a new conceptual model that integrates critical race theory, harm reduction, and self-determination theory: a qualitative exploratory study. International Journal for Equity in Health (2022).