Nearly 30 years into the AIDS epidemic, stigma is still hampering efforts to stop its spread. HIV-infected women are particularly vulnerable to both perceived and enacted stigma, which together are referred to as internalized stigma. As the demographic face of HIV infection in the US has changed from being largely a disease of gay white men to one of poor minority women, the debilitating effects of stigma have worsened. It has a profound impact on prevention and treatment efforts;women with HIV infection may be fearful of insisting that their sexual partners wear condoms because of the possibility that this may signal their serostatus, and they may not want to take antiretroviral medications in front of others, fearing that people may ask questions about their pills and the reasons for taking them. The effects of stigma include a cascade of other negative outcomes as well, including poor self-esteem and self-efficacy, especially self-efficacy for disclosure and for coping. Yet it is nearly impossible to intervene with those who stigmatize others because this group is often as broad as the general public, and they may not be interested in an intervention. Therefore, the best approach may be to work with women who are experiencing stigma, in an effort to decrease stigma, improve self-esteem and coping self-efficacy, and facilitate safe disclosure. To date, there have been few interventions to help HIV-infected women deal with stigma. One option would be a video converted to an MP4 file that can be viewed on an iPod Touch, a small portable viewing device, allowing the woman privacy and safety in viewing. Barroso (PI on the proposed study) assisted in the creation of a video on stigma for women with HIV infection, based on the results of a qualitative metasynthesis. The 45-minute video presents vignettes about five seropositive women and the ways in which stigma has impacted their lives. The primary aim of the proposed study is to assess the feasibility, acceptability and utility of implementing this low-cost, technologically delivered intervention to mitigate the negative effects of HIV-related stigma on seropositive women. The secondary aim is to compare outcomes across time in women who receive the stigma intervention with those of a control group receiving usual care at baseline, 30, and 90 days, and to determine effect sizes for a larger definitive study to test the efficacy of this intervention in reducing internalized stigma, improving coping self-efficacy and self-esteem, and facilitating safe disclosure in HIV-infected women. We believe that this intervention is innovative because we are the first investigators to propose using a video, developed from the findings of a metasynthesis of studies about stigma as it is experienced by HIV-infected women, for this purpose. It is also innovative in the use of a portable viewing device which will allow the women to safely and privately view the video. We further believe that this intervention has the potential to make a significant impact, at a low cost in terms of money and personnel time, in mitigating stigma.
Stigma is a serious problem for HIV-infected women;it has an adverse impact on disclosure to sex partners and adherence to antiretroviral medication. There are few interventions to help them deal with it. This study will test an intervention developed for HIV-infected women to help them feel less stigmatized, and better about themselves and their ability to cope. It will also help them figure out when and how to safely disclose their HIV status to others. The intervention is a video that has been converted to an MP4 file to be viewed on an iPod Touch. The video was developed from many studies conducted with HIV-infected women about stigma. We will see if this is a feasible, acceptable, and useful way to intervene with stigma.
| Relf, Michael V; Silva, Susan G; Williams, Megan Scull et al. (2015) Feasibility of using an iPod touch device and acceptability of a stigma reduction intervention with HIV-infected women in the Deep South. AIDS Behav 19:1896-904 |
| Barroso, Julie; Relf, Michael V; Williams, Megan Scull et al. (2014) A randomized controlled trial of the efficacy of a stigma reduction intervention for HIV-infected women in the Deep South. AIDS Patient Care STDS 28:489-98 |
