Conflict peculiarities of attitudes towards HIV infection and people living with hiv in high-risk groups — commercial sex workers and people who use drugs

The aim of the study to identify the peculiarities of attitudes towards HIV infection and people living with HIV (PLHIV) among commercial sex workers (CSWs) and people who use drugs (PWUD), as well as to compare these attitudes with the positions of respondents with HIV-positive status.
Materials and methods. The empirical base consists of data from personal interviews conducted in July 2024 in the Moscow region based on the author’s questionnaire. The study involved 1,250 respondents over the age of 18, including 300 CSWs, 750 PWUD, and 200 PLHIV. The analysis used methods of descriptive statistics, factor analysis to build an index of behavioral attitudes, as well as linear regression analysis.
Results and discussion. It has been established that representatives of the CSWs and PWUD groups, with high concern about the possibility of HIV infection, demonstrate widespread attitudes of risky behavior. Both groups retain stigmatizing beliefs about HIV infection and its impact on various spheres of life, primarily on intimate and marital-family relations. Respondents with HIV-positive status generally have a less negative assessment of the impact of diagnosis on their daily lives. For the PWUD group, a statistically significant relationship was found between the presence of HIV-positive people in a social environment and a more neutral or positive assessment of the impact of HIV status on human life; no such relationship was found in the CSWs group. Cases of stigmatization by medical professionals were recorded in all the studied groups.
Conclusion. The study showed that the attitude towards HIV infection and PLHIV in the CSWs and PWUD groups is characterized by a combination of high anxiety, the persistence of risky behavioral attitudes and persistent stigmatizing beliefs. Compared to risk groups, respondents with HIV-positive status demonstrate a less negative perception of the impact of diagnosis on life trajectories. The results revealed the complex and contradictory nature of social perceptions of HIV and carriers of diagnosis among the main risk groups and PLHIV, as well as existing structural factors influencing attitudes towards the disease and its carriers.

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