Assessing the Efficacy of a PhotoVoice-Informed HIV Stigma Training for Health Care Workers

HIV stigma is a harmful social phenomenon present in United States (US)-based health care settings. This study assessed the efficacy of a participatory PhotoVoice-informed stigma reduction training program focusing on people living with HIV (PLWH) and targeting health care workers. Seventy-three (N = 73) participants were assessed at baseline (T1), within approximately a week of the training (T2), and at a 3-month follow-up (T3) regarding their HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes towards PLWH, and observations of enacted HIV stigma. Findings indicated that the training increased knowledge and improved attitudes (β = 0.56, p 0.01; β = 0.58, p 0.01, respectively) at T2, but these effects diminished at T3 (β = - 0.03, p 0.05; β = - 0.29, p 0.05, respectively). The training did not, however, have an impact on observations of enacted stigma at T2 (β = 0.10, p 0.05) or at T3 (β = 0.02, p 0.05). Additional participatory stigma reduction programs that involve diverse groups of health care workers, offer salient study incentives, include time-saving training methods, and comprise a variety of stigma measures, may be particularly beneficial.