Effects of HIV-Related Discrimination on Psychosocial Syndemics and Sexual Risk Behavior among People Living with HIV

Randolph C. H. Chan, Don Operario and Winnie W. S. Mak
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Randolph C. H. Chan: Department of Special Education and Counselling, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China
Don Operario: Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, School of Public Health, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA
Winnie W. S. Mak: Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: In the context of HIV-related stigma and discrimination, people living with HIV (PLHIV) might be vulnerable to a ‘syndemic’ of co-occurring psychosocial challenges that can affect sexual behavior. The present study examined how HIV-related discrimination contributes to co-occurring psychosocial syndemic problems and results in inconsistent condom use among PLHIV in Hong Kong. Two-hundred and ninety-one PLHIV were recruited to complete a self-report questionnaire. More than one-quarter of the sample experienced two or more psychosocial syndemic problems, and 74.1% of the participants who had sex with steady partners reported inconsistent condom use over the past three months. The results indicated that HIV-related discrimination was positively predictive of the number of psychosocial syndemic problems. HIV-related discrimination and psychosocial syndemics were associated with increased odds of inconsistent condom use with steady partners (AOR = 5.40 and AOR = 3.09 respectively). Findings from structural equation modeling showed that psychosocial syndemics mediated the effect of HIV-related discrimination on condom use consistency with steady partners. PLHIV in Hong Kong suffered from the syndemic effects of stigma, social isolation, and poor mental health, which rendered them vulnerable to condomless sex. In order to curb the rapidly increasing incidence of HIV, multi-level strategies should be adopted to concurrently address the structural inequities and psychosocial syndemics faced by PLHIV.

Keywords: stigma; discrimination; psychosocial syndemics; condom use; people living with HIV (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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