title: Reducing HIV-related stigma in health care settings: a randomized controlled trial in China.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of the intervention was to reduce service providers' stigmatizing attitudes and behaviors toward people living with HIV.
  
  
  METHODS
  The randomized controlled trial was conducted in 40 county-level hospitals in 2 provinces of China between October 2008 and February 2010. Forty-four service providers were randomly selected from each hospital, yielding a total of 1760 study participants. We randomized the hospitals to either an intervention condition or a control condition. In the intervention hospitals, about 15% of the popular opinion leaders were identified and trained to disseminate stigma reduction messages.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed significant improvements for the intervention group in reducing prejudicial attitudes (P < .001), reducing avoidance intent towards people living with HIV (P < .001), and increasing institutional support in the hospitals (P = .003) at 6 months after controlling for service providers' background factors and clinic-level characteristics. The intervention effects were sustained and strengthened at 12 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The intervention reduced stigmatizing attitudes and behaviors among service providers. It has the potential to be integrated into the health care systems in China and other countries.
authors.affiliation: Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Center for Community Health, University of California at Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA. lililili@ucla.edu
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Zunyou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Li-Jung
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Chunqing
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Jihui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.forename: Manhong
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Keming
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rou
authors.forename: Zhihua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000628:therapy*; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D011287:Prejudice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013240:Stereotyping; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires