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

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
• resilience
• locus of control
• self-efficacy
• empowerment
• Uganda

Acknowledgments

Special appreciation goes to participants who voluntarily gave useful information that has yielded this manuscript which will contribute to science as well as the people who collected this data.

Disclosure statement

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

Authors’ contributions

JK and SA designed the research, were involved in data collection, carried out data analysis and wrote the manuscript. SM provided guidance in the study design, data analysis and edited the manuscript. BCZ provided guidance in data analysis, interpretation of the study findings and edited the manuscript. AF and DN provided support in the data collection, data analysis and editing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Ethical considerations

The study was approved by the research ethics committee of the Mbarara University of Science and Technology (# 02/05–20), and all participants provided written informed before they were enrolled in the study.

Availability of data and materials

All data generated and analyzed during this study are included in this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This study did not receive any funding. The financial support was provided by the authors, and it had no role in study design, data collection, analysis or interpretation of data as well as the submission for publication. Dr Ashaba acknowledges salary support from grant number K43TW011929.