Experience and management of stigma among persons living with HIV in Bali, Indonesia: A descriptive study

This study aimed to describe the level of HIV stigma experience and the HIV stigma management strategies used by persons living with HIV (PLWH) in Bali, Indonesia.

A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted from March to May 2019. In total, 215 respondents were recruited using purposive sampling from hospitals and HIV private clinic. The research tools consisted of the demographic characteristics form, the 28-Item Internalized HIV Stigma Scale, and the Stigma Management Strategies Checklist. This study used descriptive statistics and non-parametric statistics to analyze the data.

Overall, the transformed mean score of HIV stigma experience was at a low level (mean = 42.88, SD ± 17.59). There was no statistically significant difference between demographic characteristics and HIV stigma (p > .05). Of the 38 stigma management strategies, prayer (70.7%) was reported as the most common, whereas forgiving one's spouse (4.1%) was the least utilized strategy of the respondents. The most often reported reason to manage stigma was to alleviate and/or avoid stress (68.8%). In addition, the most effective stigma management strategy was prayer (28.8%). Conversely, the least effective was staying alone (21.9%).

HIV stigma is present in Bali, Indonesia, and PLWH struggle to accept their HIV status. Furthermore, they use prayer as a stigma management strategy to get closer to God. The findings of this study could serve as evidence to inform HIV stigma reduction programs in the community. In addition, the development of faith-based stigma management interventions is recommended.