Stigmatization as a Social Control Mechanism for Persons Living with HIV and AIDS
- 27 July 2010
- journal article
- other
- Published by SAGE Publications in Qualitative Health Research
- Vol. 20 (11), 1469-1483
- https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732310375436
Abstract
Stigmatization contributes to inequity by marginalizing persons living with HIV and AIDS (PHAs). In this study we examined the stigmatizing practices in health care settings from the perspectives of PHAs and health care providers (HCPs). A qualitative design, using a participatory action research approach, was used. Interviews and focus groups were completed with 16 aboriginal and 17 nonaboriginal individuals living with HIV (APHAs and PHAs) and 27 HCPs in Ottawa and Edmonton, Canada. We present findings to support the premise that stigmatization can be used as a social control mechanism with PHAs. Participants described both active and passive social control mechanisms: shunning and ostracizing, labeling, and disempowering health care practices. Forgiving behavior, balancing disclosure, practicing universal precautions, bending the rules, shifting services, and reducing labeling were strategies to manage, resist, and mitigate social control. The findings illustrate the urgent need for multilevel interventions to manage, resist, and mitigate stigma.Keywords
This publication has 48 references indexed in Scilit:
- Indigenous health part 2: the underlying causes of the health gapThe Lancet, 2009
- Indigenous health part 1: determinants and disease patternsThe Lancet, 2009
- Structural approaches to HIV preventionThe Lancet, 2008
- Walking a mile in their patients' shoes: empathy and othering in medical students' educationPhilosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine, 2008
- Social relationships, stigma and adherence to antiretroviral therapy for HIV/AIDSAIDS Care, 2006
- HIV‐related stigma in England: experiences of gay men and heterosexual African migrants living with HIVJournal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 2006
- Measuring HIV stigma: Existing knowledge and gapsPsychology, Health & Medicine, 2006
- Appearance-Related Side Effects of HIV-1 TreatmentAIDS Patient Care and STDs, 2006
- A method for the quantitative analysis of the layering of HIV-related stigmaAIDS Care, 2005
- Public Health Policy and the AIDS EpidemicThe New England Journal of Medicine, 1991