Anticipated stigma (i.e. fear of public mistreatment due to gender identity) impacts communication between transgender women (TGW) living with HIV and health care providers.
This is according to a study – “Anticipated Stigma and Social Barriers to Communication Between Transgender Women Newly Diagnosed with HIV and Health Care Providers: A Mediation Analysis” by Isabella Chypriades Junqueira Amarante, Sheri A. Lippman, Jae M. Sevelius, Gustavo Santa Roza Saggese, Antônio Augusto Moura da Silva, and Maria Amélia de Sousa Mascena Veras – that appeared in LGBT Health.
This is a secondary analysis of baseline data from Trans Amigas, a study conducted in Brazil in 2018. The study population consisted of 113 TGW living with HIV, older than 18 years, residing in the São Paulo metropolitan area. The researchers used multivariable logistic regression, mediation, and bootstrapping for the analysis.
The study found that fear of public mistreatment caused difficulty in reporting new symptoms to providers. Concerning fear of public mistreatment, among the issues cited included fear of public mistreatment, unemployment, sex work, and name change issues.
In short, “anticipated stigma was associated with communication difficulties between TGW living with HIV and providers,” the researchers stated, adding that the data suggest that structural factors associated with anticipated stigma could indirectly impact on difficulty reporting new symptoms.
These findings “indicate the importance of considering social contexts that intersect with individual experiences when analyzing communication barriers between providers and patients, and the need to strengthen social policies for TGW,” stressed the researchers.
