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Assessing the Efficacy of a PhotoVoice-Informed HIV Stigma Training for Health Care Workers

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Abstract

HIV stigma is a harmful social phenomenon present in United States (US)-based health care settings. This study assessed the efficacy of a participatory PhotoVoice-informed stigma reduction training program focusing on people living with HIV (PLWH) and targeting health care workers. Seventy-three (N = 73) participants were assessed at baseline (T1), within approximately a week of the training (T2), and at a 3-month follow-up (T3) regarding their HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes towards PLWH, and observations of enacted HIV stigma. Findings indicated that the training increased knowledge and improved attitudes (β = 0.56, p < 0.01; β = 0.58, p < 0.01, respectively) at T2, but these effects diminished at T3 (β = − 0.03, p > 0.05; β = − 0.29, p > 0.05, respectively). The training did not, however, have an impact on observations of enacted stigma at T2 (β = 0.10, p > 0.05) or at T3 (β = 0.02, p > 0.05). Additional participatory stigma reduction programs that involve diverse groups of health care workers, offer salient study incentives, include time-saving training methods, and comprise a variety of stigma measures, may be particularly beneficial.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their sincere gratitude to the participants of this study for their invaluable contributions and to the University of California Irvine Newkirk Center for Science and Society for supporting this research.

Funding

The study was funded by the UC Irvine Newkirk Center for Science & Society.

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  1. LAC+USC Maternal, Child & Adolescent/Adult Center for Infectious Diseases and Virology, Department of Pediatrics, Keck Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, 1640 Marengo Street, Suite # 300, Los Angeles, CA, 90033, USA

    Mariam Davtyan

  2. Program in Public Health, Department of Population Health and Disease Prevention, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    Scott M. Bartell & Cynthia M. Lakon

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Davtyan, M., Bartell, S.M. & Lakon, C.M. Assessing the Efficacy of a PhotoVoice-Informed HIV Stigma Training for Health Care Workers. AIDS Behav 24, 65–80 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-019-02710-6

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