Source
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Center for Community Health, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90024, USA. lililili@ucla.edu
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
The National Institute of Mental Health Collaborative HIV/Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention Trial provided a unique opportunity to test whether, with the community-based diffusion of HIV/sexually transmitted disease prevention information and an elevated understanding of HIV, the level of stigmatizing attitudes toward people living with HIV/AIDS in the community would be reduced.
METHOD:
A total of 4510 market workers in Fuzhou, China, participated in the study, and longitudinal analyses included study samples of 3785 participants in the 12-month follow-up and 3716 participants in the 24-month follow-up. We graphically examined the change in HIV-related stigma indicators over time between control and intervention groups using boxplot and kernel density estimation. A logistic regression analysis with proportional odds model was further used to examine the intervention effect on HIV-related stigmatizing attitudes.
RESULTS:
Compared with no change over time for the control group, the intervention successfully reduced the level of HIV-related stigmatizing attitudes among the target population at the 12-month follow-up, and the effect increased by two-fold (with respect to odds ratios) at the 24-month follow-up.
DISCUSSION:
The intervention demonstrated positive attitude changes associated with HIV-related stigma. Our results show the importance of social norms, rather than simply individual behaviors, in developing and implementing stigma reduction campaigns.