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. 2023 Jul-Dec;28(8):2300-2314.
doi: 10.1080/13548506.2023.2198244. Epub 2023 Apr 2.

Intrapersonal predictors of internalized stigma among school going adolescents living with HIV in southwestern Uganda

Joseph Kirabira  1 , Scholastic Ashaba  2 , Alain Favina  2 , Samuel Maling  2 , Denis Nansera  2 , Brian C Zanoni  3   4   5
Affiliations

Intrapersonal predictors of internalized stigma among school going adolescents living with HIV in southwestern Uganda

Joseph Kirabira et al. Psychol Health Med. 2023 Jul-Dec.

Abstract

We assessed the association between internalized HIV stigma, resilience, health locus of control, coping self-efficacy and empowerment among adolescents living with HIV in Uganda. We conducted a cross-sectional study between August and October 2020 among 173 adolescents aged 13-18 years attending Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital's HIV clinic. We used linear regression to determine the association between HIV stigma and intrapersonal factors adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics. The median age of the participants was 16 (IQR 3) years. There was a negative correlation between HIV stigma and resilience (β= -0.03, p < 0.001), internal health locus of control (β= -0.095, p < 0.001) and coping self-efficacy (β= -0.02, p < 0.001), while empowerment was positively correlated (β = 0.07, p < 0.001) with HIV stigma. After adjusting for the intrapersonal factors (resilience, health locus of control, coping self-efficacy and empowerment) and socio-demographic characteristics (education level and boarding school), only internal health locus of control (β=-0.044, p = 0.016) and coping self-efficacy (β=-0.015, p < 0.001) remained significantly correlated with HIV stigma. The findings suggest that interventions focusing on intrapersonal factors such as internal locus of control, empowerment and resilience may contribute towards reduction of HIV stigma among adolescents in boarding schools.

Keywords: HIV stigma; Uganda; empowerment; locus of control; resilience; self-efficacy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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