Publication Cover
AIDS Care
Psychological and Socio-medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV
Volume 34, 2022 - Issue 1
550
Views
2
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research Article

Investigating the effect of undetectable = untransmittable message frames on HIV stigma: an online experiment

& ORCID Icon
Pages 55-59 | Received 22 Sep 2020, Accepted 13 Jul 2021, Published online: 22 Jul 2021
 

ABSTRACT

People living with HIV who maintain an undetectable viral load by adhering to antiretroviral therapy cannot transmit the virus to others. The present pre-registered study sought to investigate whether messages about this fact have the potential to decrease HIV stigma, drawing on the framework of the Elaboration Likelihood Model to test variations in message framing, and measuring issue involvement as a covariate. Participants (N = 314) were randomised to one of three conditions: control message, opinion-based message, and evidence-based message. Using a between-subjects one-way ANOVA, it was found that there was no significant effect of the U = U message on perceived risk or perceived accuracy of the message. When controlling for issue involvement, operationalised as the extent to which participants felt that they can empathise with people living with HIV, participants who received the evidence-based U = U message reported lower stigmatising attitudes than those who received the opinion-based message. These adjusted results suggested that evidence-based framing was more effective than opinion-based framing and an unrelated control message.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.