scholarly journals AIDS Related Stigma in Social Relations: A Qualitative Study in Turkey

Author(s):  
Aytul Kasapoglu ◽  
Elif Saillard ◽  
Nilay Kaya ◽  
Feryal Turan

The actual number of HIV/AIDS cases in Turkey is higher than the number of cases reported, and People Living with HIV (PLWHIV) may refrain from acknowledging their sickness or seeking help because of the stigma associated with HIV and fear of discrimination from their close friends, workmates, and even their families. In this paper we aim to explore HIV-positive people's relationships with significant others such as family members, friends, sexual partners, employers and health professionals in order to present the patients' perceptions about stigma and attitudes that lead to pro-social or anti-social behavior towards them. We carried out a qualitative study based on in-depth interviews with 16 PLWHIV in order to understand the conditions of people living with HIV/AIDS in Turkey. Our results revealed that except for family relations, the fear of contagion is the main obstacle for HIV-positive people's relations with others. HIV-positive people are severely afflicted with discrimination due to the overlapping "instrumental" and "symbolic" stigmas that directly affect their relations. The attribute of responsibility is related to gender and socio-economic status of PLWHIV living in Turkey.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeni Lufiana Novita Agnes ◽  
Praneed Songwathana

Background: Although advanced treatment and accessibility of HIV/AIDS prevention and care have been increased, HIV-related stigma persists in the Indonesian community, especially among HIV-negative Muslim wives in a serodiscordant relationship. Therefore, understanding their coping strategies of the stigma is a necessity. Objective: The study aimed to explore HIV-related stigma and coping strategies of HIV-negative Muslim wives in a serodiscordant relationship. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted among seven HIV-negative Muslim wives in a serodiscordant relationship who experienced stigma.  Data were collected by in-depth interview, and content analysis was used for data analysis. Findings: Three themes emerged from the data. The first theme was the meaning of HIV/AIDS to Muslim wives, including perceiving HIV as a wanita nakal (immoral women) disease, perceiving HIV causes death, assuming herself as a carrier, and presuming HIV is less harmful than Diabetes Mellitus. The second theme was HIV-related stigma experiences, including being shunned by people, rejected by a midwife, and humiliated by a health worker. Finally, the third theme was coping strategies with the stigma, consisting of hiding the husband's HIV-positive status from the neighbors, disclosing HIV-positive status to a selective person, seeking support from the peer group, and strengthening the relationship among family members. Conclusion: HIV/AIDS-related stigma affected people living with HIV/AIDS and their families, and it becomes a barrier to HIV/AIDS reduction programs in the marriage relationship. These findings will be beneficial to nurses and other health professionals to develop stigma reduction interventions related to HIV/AIDS.   Funding: This research was funded by the Graduate School at Prince of Songkla University, Thailand; Kadiri University, Indonesia; and the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education of Indonesia Scholarship.


2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 475-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Nafula Kuria

AbstractObjectiveTo establish the food consumption, dietary habits and nutritional status of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and adults whose HIV status is not established.DesignCross-sectional descriptive survey.SettingThika and Bungoma Districts, Kenya.SubjectsA random sample of 439 adults; 174 adults living with HIV/AIDS and 265 adults whose HIV/AIDS status was not established in Thika and Bungoma Districts.ResultsMajority of PLWHA consume foods that are low in nutrients to build up the immune system and help maintain adequate weight, and there is little variety in the foods they consume. More adults who are HIV-positive are undernourished than those whose status is not established. Of the HIV-positive adults, those with a BMI of ≤18·5 kg/m2 were 23·6 % (Thika 20·0 % and Bungoma 25·7 %) while of the adults whose status is not established those with BMI ≤ 18·5 kg/m2 were 13·9 % (Thika 9·3 % and Bungoma 16·7 %).ConclusionsAdults who are HIV-positive are more likely to be undernourished than those whose status is not established, as there is a significant difference (P = 0·000) between the nutritional status (BMI) of PLWHA and those whose HIV/AIDS status is not established. PLWHA consume foods that are low in nutrients to promote their nutritional well-being and health.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne C. Wagner

The current investigation seeks to examine the attitudes and beliefs of health care providers in Canada about people living with HIV. The line of research consists of three studies. Study 1 was a qualitative study conducted with a critical lens. The critical lens was used in a series of four focus groups when qualitatively soliciting opinions about the range of attitudes, behaviours and cognitions health care providers may have towards people living with HIV. Study 2 used the information gathered from Study 1 to develop a scale to assess HIV stigma in health care providers. Items were created from examples and themes found in the qualitative study, and were tested via exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, test-retest reliability analysis, and assessed for convergent and divergent validity. Study 3 examined the newly developed scale’s relationship to proposed overlapping stigmas and attitudes, and tested the adapted intersectional model of HIV-related stigma with health care trainees using the newly developed HIV stigma scale as an outcome measure. The line of research found that HIV stigma continues to be a significant problem in the health care system. The scale developed in Study 2 demonstrates that HIV stigma can be conceptualized and assessed as a tripartite model of discrimination, stereotyping and prejudice, and that this conceptualization of HIV stigma supports an intersectional model of overlapping stigmas with homophobia, racism, stigma against injection drug use and stigma against sex work.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patience Adzordor ◽  
Clement Avoka ◽  
Vitalis Bawontuo ◽  
Silas Agbesi ◽  
Desmond Kuupiel

Abstract Background Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) homes most of the people living with HIV/AIDS in the world. Adolescents/young people are a vulnerable population and at high risk of HIV infection. Identifying and bridging the research gaps on the disclosure of HIV-positive status among adolescents, particularly to their sexual partners, is essential to inform appropriate policy planning and implementation towards preventing HIV transmission. This study will aim to explore literature and describe the evidence on HIV-positive status disclosure among adolescents in SSA. Methods The framework provided by Arksey and O’Malley’s framework and improved by Levac and colleagues will be used to conduct a scoping review. A keyword search for relevant literature presenting evidence on HIV-positive status disclosure among adolescents in SSA will be conducted in CINAHL, PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar, and SCOPUS. Date limitations will be removed, but Boolean terms “AND” and “OR” as well as Medical Subject Headings terms will be included where possible and syntax modified to suit the database during the search. Additional relevant articles will be sought from the reference lists of all included studies using a snowballing method. Two reviewers will independently screen the articles at the abstract and full-text screening phases in order to reduce bias and improve the reliability of this study’s findings. A tabular form will be developed using Microsoft Word and piloted for data extraction. Thematic content analysis will be conducted, and a narrative summary of all relevant outcomes reported. Quality appraisal of the included studies for this proposed study will be performed utilizing the recent mixed methods appraisal tool. Discussion The evidence produced by this review may help inform policy and strategies to reduce the incidence of HIV infection among adolescents and improve social support for adolescents living with HIV/AIDS in SSA. It may also reveal literature gaps to guide future researches to further inform HIV policies for adolescents in SSA. Platforms such as peer review journals, policy briefs, and conferences will be used to disseminate this study’s findings.


Author(s):  
Patricia Solomon ◽  
Kelly Kathleen O’Brien ◽  
Stephanie Nixon ◽  
Lori Letts ◽  
Larry Baxter ◽  
...  

People living with HIV may experience disability which is episodic in nature, characterized by periods of wellness and illness. The purpose of this longitudinal qualitative study was to understand how the episodic nature of HIV and the associated uncertainty shape the disability experience of older adults living with HIV over time. Fourteen men and 10 women who were HIV positive and over 50 years (mean age: 57 years; range: 50-73) participated in 4 interviews over 20 months. Longitudinal analyses of the transcribed interviews identified 4 phenotypes of episodic disability over time: decreasing, increasing, stable, or significant fluctuations. Although all participants experienced uncertainty, acceptance and optimism were hallmarks of those whose phenotypes were stable or improved over time. Understanding a person’s episodic trajectory may help to tailor interventions to promote stability, mitigate an upward trajectory of increasing disability, and increase the time between episodes of illness.


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