title: The Impact of Stigma and Social Support on Development of Post-traumatic Growth Among Persons Living with HIV.
abstract: Given high rates of trauma in people living with HIV (PLH) and the health benefits of posttraumatic growth (PTG), understanding how to foster PTG in PLH exposed to trauma could be of interest to clinical psychologists working with this population. The current study examined factors theoretically related to development of PTG in PLH, namely HIV-related stigma, disclosure of HIV status, and emotional support. A sample of 334 HIV-positive adults answered a battery of self-report questionnaires. HIV-related stigma, disclosure to sexual partners, and emotional support were significant predictors of PTG: stigma was associated with lower PTG, whereas disclosure and emotional support were associated with higher PTG. Disclosure and emotional support remained significantly associated with PTG in the model including demographic factors and stigma. These findings highlight the need for development of interventions that can aid PLH in disclosing their HIV status to sexual partners and increasing available social support.
authors.affiliation: University of Rochester, Saunders Research Building, 265 Crittenden Blvd, Box 420658, Rochester, NY, 14642, USA. charles_kamen@urmc.rochester.edu.
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kamen
authors.affiliation: PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Consortium, 1791 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA, 94304, USA.
authors.forename: Chaniga
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vorasarun
authors.affiliation: PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Consortium, 1791 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA, 94304, USA.
authors.forename: Ty
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Canning
authors.affiliation: PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Consortium, 1791 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA, 94304, USA.
authors.forename: Eliza
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kienitz
authors.affiliation: PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Consortium, 1791 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA, 94304, USA.
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.affiliation: PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Consortium, 1791 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA, 94304, USA.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Flores
authors.affiliation: PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Consortium, 1791 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA, 94304, USA.
authors.forename: Darryl
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Etter
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, 401 Quarry Road, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, 401 Quarry Road, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Cheryl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gore-Felton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012747:Sexual Partners; D057545:Social Stigma; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: HIV; Post-traumatic growth; Social support; Stigma