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AIDS and Behavior
Published in: AIDS and Behavior 10/2018

Open Access 01-10-2018 | Original Paper

Addressing Stigma Through a Virtual Community for People Living with HIV: A Mixed Methods Study of the PositiveLinks Mobile Health Intervention

Authors: Tabor E. Flickinger, Claire DeBolt, Alice Xie, Alison Kosmacki, Marika Grabowski, Ava Lena Waldman, George Reynolds, Mark Conaway, Wendy F. Cohn, Karen Ingersoll, Rebecca Dillingham

Published in: AIDS and Behavior | Issue 10/2018

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Abstract

Stigma has negative consequences for quality of life and HIV care outcomes. PositiveLinks is a mobile health intervention that includes a secure anonymous community message board (CMB). We investigated discussion of stigma and changes in stigma scores. Of 77 participants in our pilot, 63% were male, 49% Black, and 72% had incomes below the federal poverty level. Twenty-one percent of CMB posts (394/1834) contained stigma-related content including negative (experiencing stigma) and positive (overcoming stigma) posts addressing intrapersonal and interpersonal stigma. Higher baseline stigma was positively correlated with stress and negatively correlated with HIV care self-efficacy. 12-month data showed a trend toward more improved stigma scores for posters on the CMB versus non-posters (− 4.5 vs − 0.63) and for posters of stigma-related content versus other content (− 5.1 vs − 3.3). Preliminary evidence suggests that a supportive virtual community, accessed through a clinic-affiliated smartphone app, can help people living with HIV to address stigma.
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Metadata
Title
Addressing Stigma Through a Virtual Community for People Living with HIV: A Mixed Methods Study of the PositiveLinks Mobile Health Intervention
Authors
Tabor E. Flickinger
Claire DeBolt
Alice Xie
Alison Kosmacki
Marika Grabowski
Ava Lena Waldman
George Reynolds
Mark Conaway
Wendy F. Cohn
Karen Ingersoll
Rebecca Dillingham
Publication date
01-10-2018
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
AIDS and Behavior / Issue 10/2018
Print ISSN: 1090-7165
Electronic ISSN: 1573-3254
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-018-2174-6

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