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HIV-related stigma in a New York City sample of adults in outpatient care for HIV infection: a short report

This analysis used data from a randomly selected cross-sectional sample of HIV infected outpatient adults in New York City to assess HIV-related stigma and examine gender-specific differences among factors associated with HIV-related stigma. Data was collected by conducting participant interviews and medical records abstraction. HIV-related stigma was assessed using the internalized AIDS-related stigma scale (IA-RSS). Exploratory factor analysis of the IA-RSS indicated that the scale consisted of two factors: (1) internalized stigma and (2) anticipated stigma. Of the 447 sampled participants 23.9% had a higher level of internalized stigma and 38.3% had a higher level of anticipated stigma. Multivariate analysis indicated that among females, internalized stigma was associated with being diagnosed HIV positive after the introduction of HAART in 1996 (adjusted prevalence ratio [PR]: 1.9; 95% CI: 1.2, 3.1; P < 0.01) and a diagnosis of depression (adjusted PR: 1.9; 95% CI: 1.2, 2.9; P < 0.01). Among males, anticipated stigma was associated with younger age (18 and 39 years) (adjusted PR: 1.7; 95% CI: 1.3, 2.2; P < 0.001) and use of non-injection drugs (adjusted PR: 0.60; 95% CI: 0.41, 0.86; P < 0.01). Findings suggest that there may be gender-specific differences among factors associated with different dimensions of HIV-related stigma.