Stigmatization of people living with HIV among obstetricians and gynecologists: a pilot study

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The stigma of people living with HIV (PLHIV) remains an urgent problem of modern science. Meanwhile, it can be stated that there is a lack of methods used to study stigmatization.

AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the stigmatization of PLHIV among healthcare workers of the obstetric and gynecological service.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included 232 doctors and nurses of the obstetric and gynecological service and was conducted from April to November 2018. We adapted the Questionnaire for Doctors and Nurses’ Views on People Living with HIV/AIDS and the Comprehensive Health Staff Questionnaire (for sentinel surveillance) for this study.

RESULTS: We have studied the current level of awareness of healthcare workers of the obstetric and gynecological service regarding the ways of HIV transmission and methods of treatment. The contradictory attitudes of medical workers towards PLHIV were considered. On the one hand, medical professionals believe that, regardless of their status, the patient deserves qualified assistance. On the other hand, they find it difficult to assess the moral aspect of HIV infection. Dependences of the level of awareness and the peculiarities of attitudes towards PLHIV on sociodemographic characteristics were established.

CONCLUSIONS: This article analyzes the results of the pilot study of stigmatization of PLHIV among healthcare workers of the obstetric and gynecological service. We compared our own results with the data obtained by domestic and foreign authors and discussed the similarities and differences in the conclusions. The limitations of this pilot study were analyzed, with the probable ways of further work proposed and outlined.

Keywords

HIV / stigma / stigmatization of people living with HIV / healthcare workers / obstetric and gynecological service

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