Percepção do estigma em universitários que vivem com HIV/AIDS

Abstract

Currently, 37.9 million people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) have been identified worldwide and in 2018, 1.7 million new cases were reported. In Brazil, between 2018 and June 2021, 381,793 new cases of HIV infection. In Amazonas, in the same period, 9,879 new infections were registered, and in the city of Manaus, 8,267 cases of AIDS were reported and the age group with the highest number of new cases since 2007 is among young people aged between 20 and 35 years. There is a growing increase in the number of new cases of infection among young people, as well as the volume of scientific publications addressing the historical, social, cultural and economic consequences and the influence of several factors on the quality of life, well-being and health of young people living with HIV/AIDS. When we turn to the university population, the number of investigations is scarce, especially when the focus of the study is the university student with HIV and its relationship with the academic environment. The general objective of this research was to assess the level of perception of stigma among young people living with HIV at the University. This is a quantitative-descriptive, exploratory, transversal research. Twenty-six people participated in this research, with the greatest number of people declaring themselves to be male (92.3%) and with homosexual sexual orientation (80.8%), with an average age of 27.5 years, from Public Universities (53.8%) and Private (46.2%), with the majority with a positive diagnosis for HIV for more than 3 years (53.8%). The participants answered, online and anonymously, a sociodemographic questionnaire and a Stigma Scale for People Living with HIV/AIDS, which resulted in a higher average of perception in the Revelation Subdomain (3.1), which demonstrates that the participants are more afraid, concerned and have difficulties with the possibility of revealing their HIV-positive diagnosis. The second Subdomain with the highest average was Public Attitudes (2.5) and refers to a greater perception of the stigmatizing behavior of other people and institutions in relation to their status as a person living with HIV.