Stigma, Food Insecurity, and Limited Social Support as Psychosocial Correlates of Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence Among Pregnant Women Living With HIV: Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) during pregnancy is critical for maternal health and the prevention of vertical HIV transmission. In Uganda, where HIV prevalence remains high, pregnant women living with HIV face intersecting structural and psychosocial challenges, including stigma, food insecurity, and limited social support. Although each factor has been linked to ART nonadherence, less is known about how these factors co-occur within individuals and jointly shape vulnerability to nonadherence during pregnancy. Objective: This study used latent profile analysis to identify empirically derived psychosocial vulnerability profiles reflecting the co-occurrence of stigma, food insecurity, and limited social support among pregnant women living with HIV in Uganda and examine whether profile membership is associated with ART adherence. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 167 pregnant women living with HIV recruited from 6 health facilities in Uganda between June and December 2020. Measures included experienced HIV stigma, internalized HIV stigma, household food insecurity, and interpersonal social support. Latent profile analysis identified psychosocial profiles, and linear regression models assessed associations between profile membership and ART adherence, adjusting for sociodemographic covariates. Results: A 2-class solution provided the best model fit (entropy=0.93). The higher-risk profile (75/167, 45.1%) was characterized by increased experienced stigma (mean score 1.97, SE 0.05), higher internalized stigma (mean score 2.66, SE 0.07), severe food insecurity (mean score 7.53, SE 0.20), and lower social support (mean score 2.06, SE 0.04). The lower-risk profile (92/167, 54.9%) showed significantly lower internalized stigma (mean score 2.32, SE 0.04; P<.001), lower experienced stigma (mean score 1.72, SE 0.05; P<.001), minimal food insecurity (mean score 0.82, SE 0.15; P<.001), and slightly higher social support (mean score 2.14, SE 0.04; P<.001). Membership in the higher-risk profile was associated with significantly lower ART adherence compared with membership in the lower-risk profile (B=0.88; β=0.40, 95% CI 0.02-0.78; P=.04). Conclusions: Distinct psychosocial profiles are meaningfully associated with ART adherence among pregnant women living with HIV in Uganda. By moving beyond single-risk models, these findings demonstrate the added value of person-centered analytic approaches for identifying subgroups of pregnant women living with HIV exposed to clustered psychosocial and structural vulnerabilities. The findings underscore the need for multicomponent, person-centered interventions that simultaneously address stigma, food insecurity, and limited social support rather than treating these challenges in isolation. Identifying empirically derived vulnerability profiles provides a targeted framework for prioritizing high-risk subgroups and informing contextually appropriate intervention design. Addressing these intersecting vulnerabilities is essential for improving maternal ART adherence and supporting efforts to prevent vertical HIV transmission in high-burden settings.