AIDS Related Stigma and Health Professionals in Puerto Rico

Résumé 0

"This study addresses an important issue in the AIDS epidemic in Puerto Rico: AIDS stigma among health professionalsand health profession students. AIDS stigma has been documented among health services providers such as doctors,nurses, psychologists, and social workers. It has detrimental effects of the services provided and the lives of peopleliving with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The main objective of this study was to explore AIDS stigma manifestations amonga sample composed of eighty health professionals and health profession students who participated in in-depthqualitative interviews. Four thematic categories stemmed from the data analysis process. These addressed the followingsubjects: social manifestations of stigma, stigma manifestations in the workplace, use of sensitive information to controlPLWHA, and surveillance of PLWHA. Participants manifested instances of stigmatization they had witnessed in theirwork and training scenarios. Furthermore, they elaborated on the need to place effective surveillance mechanism onPLWHA in order to control the epidemic."