Factors Associated with Missed Appointment Date among HIV Positive adult Clients Attending Art Clinic at Masindi Port Health Center III

Missed appointment is when a patient has missed the next follow up appointment immediately a day after an appointment date was scheduled but reported to the health facility before the three months elapse. To assess factors associated with missed appointment date among HIV positive clients attending ART clinic at Masindi Port HC III, Kiryandongo District. A cross-sectional study design employing quantitative method of data collection was done among 80 HIV positive adults attending ART clinic at Masindi Port Health Center III that were sampled using a simple random sampling method. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 at a confident interval of 95% with a p-value of <0.05 for significance factors. The study findings showed that 17(65.4%) of the participants did miss their appointment date while 9(34.6%) were able to report back within three months post appointment date. The followings factors were significantly associated with missed appointment: Participant’s age (X2=4.887, p-value=0.027*), participant’s average monthly income (X2=9.579, p-value=0.002*), form of transport (X2=7.304, p-value=0.026*), specific challenges faced by participants (X2=16.676, p-value=0.001*) and religious status (X2=12.230, p-value=0.002*). In conclusion, majority 17(65.4%) of the participants were able to missed their appointment date whereas 9(34.6%) were able to report back within three months post appointment date and it was found out to be significantly associated with both the client’s related factors which includes; age of the participants, religious status, income level and the health facility related factors which includes; the form of transport used by the participants to access health care and the challenges the participants faced while accessing health care services. Keywords: Factors, Missed Appointment Date, HIV Positive; Adult Clients