Objective:

To identify and map the scientific literature on the reasons for treatment non-adherence or abandonment among adolescents and young individuals living with HIV/AIDS.

Materials and method:

A scoping review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) strategy for the presentation of data referring to the reasons for treatment non-adherence or abandonment among adolescents and young people living with HIV/AIDS. Seven information sources were used to search for the articles, namely: Medline via PubMed, Web of Science, LILACS, CINAHL, BDEnf, Scopus, and Embase, without a time frame and with the following search strategy: “patient dropouts” OR “abandonment” OR “lack of medication adherence” AND “adolescent” OR “young adult” AND “Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome” OR “HIV” AND “antiretroviral therapy highly active” OR “medication adherence.”

Results:

Eight articles were included in the study, contemplating the reasons for treatment non-adherence or abandonment, which were related to access to health services, sociodemographic, structural, psychosocial and behavioral conditions, and factors associated with the disease or the medication.

Conclusions:

The findings of this study evidenced how vulnerable adolescents and young people are to the issues inherent to HIV/AIDS treatment and that several reasons can influence its non-adherence or abandonment.

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