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Internalized stigma, social distance, and disclosure of HIV seropositivity in rural Uganda.
Published Web Location
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3795853/No data is associated with this publication.
Abstract
Background
HIV is highly stigmatized, compromising both treatment and prevention in resource-limited settings.Purpose
We sought to study the relationship between internalized HIV-related stigma and serostatus disclosure and to determine the extent to which this association varies with the degree of social distance.Methods
We fit multivariable Poisson regression models, with cluster-correlated robust estimates of variance, to data from 259 persons with HIV enrolled in an ongoing cohort study in rural Uganda.Results
Persons with more internalized stigma were less likely to disclose their seropositivity. The magnitude of association increased with social distance such that the largest association was observed for public disclosures and the smallest association was observed for disclosures to sexual partners.Conclusions
Among persons with HIV in rural Uganda, internalized stigma was negatively associated with serostatus disclosure. The inhibiting effect of stigma was greatest for the most socially distant ties.Many UC-authored scholarly publications are freely available on this site because of the UC's open access policies. Let us know how this access is important for you.