Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Oct 28;7(5):409-417.
doi: 10.33546/bnj.1600. eCollection 2021.

Understanding stigma and coping strategies among HIV-negative Muslim wives in serodiscordant relationships in a Javanese community, Indonesia

Yeni Lufiana Novita Agnes  1   2 , Praneed Songwathana  2
Affiliations

Understanding stigma and coping strategies among HIV-negative Muslim wives in serodiscordant relationships in a Javanese community, Indonesia

Yeni Lufiana Novita Agnes et al. Belitung Nurs J. .

Abstract

Background: Although advanced treatment and accessibility of HIV/AIDS prevention and care have been increased, HIV-related stigma persists in the Indonesian community, especially among HIV-negative Muslim wives in a serodiscordant relationship. Therefore, understanding their coping strategies of the stigma is a necessity.

Objective: The study aimed to explore HIV-related stigma and coping strategies of HIV-negative Muslim wives in a serodiscordant relationship.

Methods: A qualitative study was conducted among seven HIV-negative Muslim wives in a serodiscordant relationship who experienced stigma. Data were collected by in-depth interview, and content analysis was used for data analysis.

Findings: Three themes emerged from the data. The first theme was the meaning of HIV/AIDS to Muslim wives, including perceiving HIV as a wanita nakal (immoral women) disease, perceiving HIV causes death, assuming herself as a carrier, and presuming HIV is less harmful than Diabetes Mellitus. The second theme was HIV-related stigma experiences, including being shunned by people, rejected by a midwife, and humiliated by a health worker. Finally, the third theme was coping strategies with the stigma, consisting of hiding the husband's HIV-positive status from the neighbors, disclosing HIV-positive status to a selective person, seeking support from the peer group, and strengthening the relationship among family members.

Conclusion: HIV/AIDS-related stigma affected people living with HIV/AIDS and their families, and it becomes a barrier to HIV/AIDS reduction programs in the marriage relationship. These findings will be beneficial to nurses and other health professionals to develop stigma reduction interventions related to HIV/AIDS.

Keywords: HIV-negative; HIV-related stigma; Indonesia; Muslim wives; marriage relationship; nursing; serodiscordant.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare there is no conflict of interest associated with this publication.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A pathway of participants’ recruitment
Figure 2
Figure 2
HIV-related stigma and coping strategies among HIV-negative wives
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Agnes Yeni, L. N., Songwathana, P., & Perngmark, P. (2020). A grounded theory study of how Muslim wives adapt to their relationships with husbands who are HIV-positive. Pacific Rim International Journal of Nursing Research, 24(2), 187-201.
    1. Agnes, Y. L. N., Songwathana, P., & Perngmark, P. (2018). Sexual negotiation for HIV prevention among Muslim married women within serodiscordant relationships in the Indonesian socio-cultural context. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation), Prince of Songkla University, Hatyai, Thailand.
    1. Anima-Korang, A., Gere, B. O., & Salimi, N. (2018). Stigma and discrimination: Coping strategies for persons living with HIV/AIDS in rural America. IAFOR Journal of Psychology & the Behavioral Sciences, 4(1), 33-44. 10.22492/ijpbs.4.1.03 - DOI
    1. Badahdah, A. M. (2010). Stigmatization of persons with HIV/AIDS in Saudi Arabia. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 21(4), 386-392. 10.1177/1043659609360873 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bourne, A., Owuor, J., & Dodds, C. (2017). Intimacy, support and social connectivity: Experiences of HIV serodiscordant relationships among black African people living in England. In A. Persson & S. D. Hughes (Eds.), Cross-cultural perspectives on couples with mixed HIV status: Beyond positive/negative (pp. 111-124). Switzerland: Springer.

LinkOut - more resources