ABSTRACT

Anticipated HIV stigma refers to expectations held by individuals regarding social rejection, prejudice, and discrimination if they were ever to be infected by HIV. Much of the prior work on the impact of this anticipated stigma on HIV testing focus on men who have sex with men and transgender women populations, suggesting that higher levels of anticipated stigma contributes to delays in HIV testing. The same association is insufficiently explored in heterosexual men. Thus, the objective of this cross-sectional study is to investigate the association between anticipated HIV stigma and HIV testing in a mainly self-identified as heterosexual (n = 97.4%) sample of 434 Brazilian male soldiers. In this sample, 84.3% of the study participants had never been tested for HIV. Those with higher anticipated HIV stigma were more likely to delay HIV testing. These data suggest that campaigns and actions should target heterosexual men young population, not only sexual and gender minorities. Future research and interventions are warranted to guarantee environments with less stigma and to develop HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention among heterosexual men.

摘要

预期的艾滋病毒耻辱感是指个人对一旦感染艾滋病毒的社会排斥、偏见和歧视的期望。先前关于这种预期污名对艾滋病毒检测的影响的大部分工作都集中在男男性行为者和跨性别女性人群上，这表明更高水平的预期污名会导致艾滋病毒检测的延迟。在异性恋男性中，同样的关联没有得到充分探索。因此，这项横断面研究的目的是调查预期的 HIV 耻辱感与 HIV 检测之间的关联，主要是自我认定为异性恋者（n = 97.4%) 434 名巴西男性士兵的样本。在这个样本中，84.3% 的研究参与者从未接受过 HIV 检测。那些对艾滋病毒耻辱感较高的人更有可能推迟艾滋病毒检测。这些数据表明，运动和行动应针对异性恋男性年轻人群，而不仅仅是性少数群体和性别少数群体。有必要进行未来的研究和干预，以保证环境的污名化程度降低，并提高异性恋男性对 HIV/AIDS 的认识和预防。