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How Does Stigma Affect People Living with HIV? The Mediating Roles of Internalized and Anticipated HIV Stigma in the Effects of Perceived Community Stigma on Health and Psychosocial Outcomes

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Abstract

Few researchers have attempted to examine the mechanisms through which HIV-related stigma in the community is processed and experienced at an individual level by people living with HIV. We examined how the effects of perceived HIV stigma in the community on health outcomes for people living with HIV are mediated by internalized stigma and anticipated stigma. Participants (N = 203) from an HIV clinic completed self-report measures and their clinical data were obtained from medical records. Results suggested that the association between perceived community stigma and affective, cognitive, and mental health outcomes (self-esteem, depressive symptoms, avoidance coping, self-blame) are mediated by internalized stigma. Furthermore, a serial mediation model suggested that perceived community stigma leads to internalized stigma, which leads to anticipated community stigma, which in turn leads to lower medication adherence. The associations between perceived community stigma and interpersonal outcomes (social support, trust in physicians) were mediated by internalized stigma and anticipated stigma, again in a serial fashion (perceived community stigma leads to internalized stigma, which leads to anticipated stigma, which in turn leads to interpersonal outcomes). These results suggest that perceived HIV-related stigma in the community may cause people living with HIV to internalize stigma and anticipate stigmatizing experiences, resulting in adverse health and psychosocial outcomes—information that can be used to shape interventions.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Maria Lechtreck, C. Blake Helms, Christy Thai, and all the research assistants for their help in data collection.

Funding

This research was supported by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Center for AIDS Research CFAR, an NIH funded program (P30 AI027767) that was made possible by the following institutes: NIAID, NCI, NICHD, NHLBI, NIDA, NIA, NIDDK, NIGMS, and OAR. Dr. Fazeli is supported by 1K99 AG048762-01 from NIA (P. Fazeli, PI). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. The Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 415 Campbell Hall, Birmingham, AL, 35294-1170, USA

      Bulent Turan & Wesley R. Browning

    2. Department of Health Care Organization and Policy, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

      Henna Budhwani & Janet M. Turan

    3. Department of Family, Community, and Health Systems, School of Nursing, 1720 2nd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL, 35294-1210, USA

      Pariya L. Fazeli

    4. The Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

      James L. Raper & Michael J. Mugavero

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    1. Bulent Turan
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    Correspondence to Bulent Turan.

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    Conflict of Interest

    Bulent Turan, Henna Budhwani, Pariya L. Fazeli, Wesley R. Browning, James L. Raper, Michael J. Mugavero, and Janet M. Turan, declares that they has no conflict of interest.

    Ethical Approval

    All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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    Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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    Henna Budhwani and Bulent Turan have contributed equally to this manuscript.

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    Turan, B., Budhwani, H., Fazeli, P.L. et al. How Does Stigma Affect People Living with HIV? The Mediating Roles of Internalized and Anticipated HIV Stigma in the Effects of Perceived Community Stigma on Health and Psychosocial Outcomes. AIDS Behav 21, 283–291 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-016-1451-5

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