Efficacy Testing of a Culturally Relevant Stigma Intervention With WLWH in Tanzania

Efficacy Testing of a Culturally Relevant Stigma Intervention With Women Living With HIV in Tanzania

This study will test a stigma reduction intervention with women living with HIV in Tanzania.

This study will test a culturally and linguistically relevant stigma reduction intervention, Labda Siku Moja, among women living with HIV in Tanzania.

Inclusion Criteria:

The inclusion criteria for this study are:

• (1) women who are living with HIV;
• (2) age 18 (age of adulthood as defined by the Tanzanian government);
• (3) able and willing to voluntarily consent to participate in the study;
• (4) able to travel to a data collection in their local community (as described above);
• (5) demonstrate mental competence at time of informed consent;
• (6) verbally indicate that they plan to reside in their current community for at least 6 months after enrollment (necessary to prevent attrition);
• (7) score at the median or higher level on the Swahili Version of the Multidimensional Measure of Internalized HIV Stigma Scale.

Exclusion Criteria:

• (1) any acute psychological or physiological distress; if there is evidence of acute psychologic and/or physiologic, they will be excluded from this study and referred to an appropriate site for evaluation and treatment.
• (2) Transgender women living with HIV will not be eligible to participate in this study to reduce the potential for confounding sources of stigma recognizing that a transgender identity is highly stigmatized and culturally sensitive in Tanzania. Further, it would be exceedingly difficult to recruit a sufficient sample of transgender women living with HIV to conduct an appropriate analysis.
• (3) Participants may be enrolled in other HIV-related studies except cognitive-behavioral intervention studies addressing stigma, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and/or disclosure