UCSF

In the United States, HIV outbreaks are occurring in areas most affected by the opioid epidemic, including West Virginia (WV). Cultural Theory contends that multiple cultures co-exist within societies distinguished by their differing intensities of rules or norms of behavior ('grid') or degree of group allegiance/individual autonomy ('group'). Accordingly, we would expect that perceptions about HIV, including stigma, correspond with individuals' grid/group attributes. To explore this, we conducted qualitative interviews with people who inject drugs (PWID) recruited from a WV syringe service program. This paper focuses on our unexpected findings on stigma during a coinciding HIV outbreak. PWID living homeless identified as belonging to a 'street family'. Its members were mutually distrustful and constrained by poverty and drug dependence but despite their conflicts, reported openness between each other about HIV + status. Interviewees living with HIV perceived little enacted stigma from peers since the local outbreak. Contrasting stigmatizing attitudes were attributed to the town's mainstream society. The 'High Five' (Hi-V) Club, expressing defiance towards stigmatizing behavior outside the street family, epitomized the tensions between a desire for solidary and mutual support and a fatalistic tendency towards division and distrust. Fatalism may hinder cooperation, solidarity and HIV prevention but may explain perceived reductions in stigma.