Research Paper on HIV/AIDS Stigmatization

Introduction

Value refers to the importance an individual ascribes to a specific concept. Hence, values are situational norms and principles one upholds in their life. Nowadays, most people in society rely on social media platforms to maintain instantaneous communication and express significant moments. The community-generated experience has led to most users viewing various online platforms as integral aspects in their daily life. The connection with friends and obtaining information has led to most people valuing social media and accessing it severally on a daily basis. Attitude refers to the manner in which one feels and thinks about an idea, thing or person. It offers an evaluative insight on various cumulative reactions that reflect on personal views one has acquired over a certain period. Likewise, a belief exemplifies correlated attitudes and values on a concept or person that have been derived from personal experiences, prejudices, and integrative opinions on the social world. Most beliefs are based on the values linked to them. Therefore, my research perceptions on qualitative nursing research denote the values, beliefs, and attitudes I have formed based on my social interactions, religious, and cultural affiliations.

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Personal Values, Attitudes, and Beliefs

My beliefs, attitudes, and values on nursing research are not inherent to documents and visual resources. However, my interpretation of the divergent opinions expressed by an author influences my attitude on the view and values I have on particular research. Consequently, the accessibility, scientific connection, and the chosen research methodology have a significant impact on the value and attitude I have after analyzing a document. My beliefs on the different nursing research topics often vary depending on the identical and disparate ideas associated with the research. According to Saldana and Omasta 2017, sociological theories suggest that the readers' values are flexible due to their ever-evolving and malleable nature (65). My values system for nursing research is quite rigid due to my diverse professional experience. My neutral attitude on dependency, reliability, and consistency values on all nursing documents have a substantial impact on my beliefs and attitude. Hence, I always have a difficult time in distinguishing whether my statement on particular nursing topics exemplifies my belief, attitude, and value due to the intricate value system's interrelationship.

I prefer the qualitative research approach to the quantitative methodology when conducting most of my nursing researches. As a qualitative researcher, I strive to ascertain various attitudes, values, and beliefs held by respondents on a particular topic. Besides, qualitative research enables me to avoid generalizing my results in any specific group in society. It offers the researcher satisfactory conclusions that clarity the participants' attitude and opinions that enable an individual to interpret their values based on their phenomenal interest (Austin & Sutton, 2014, 436). As a result, the participants' experiences form the situational value system that empowers to me to declare certain explanations on human behaviors based on specific contexts.

Qualitative research offers various options to the researchers based on the background, research questions, participants, and specific topic parameters. However, as a qualitative researcher, I endorse an open-minded approach to quantitative research since it provides a statistical outlook to the qualitative methodology. Subsequently, the quantitative study's numerical approach complements the participants' subjective attitudes, values, and beliefs. Hence, quantitative research enables me to declare the underlying statistical assumptions linked to my nursing research. Based on my experience, most of the nursing studies I have conducted usually use the focus groups and observations to explain certain attitudes, beliefs, and values among the participants. However, using the observations and groups focus frameworks compromises my flexibility and objectivity on the basic qualitative assumptions (Austin & Sutton, 2014, 438). I have to integrate the quantitative research frameworks occasionally to enhance my impartiality on nursing studies that require focus group, observations, and interview assessments. For that reason, the quantitative methodology has enabled qualitative research to complement its results on the participants' personal experience by integrating a statistical perspective.

HIV/AIDS Stigmatization

Stigmatization is one of the main challenges people living with HIV/AIDS experience in most societies globally. Stigma refers to any aspect or behavior that is extremely demeaning and results in a person's or group's isolation from their colleagues. Nations that have high HIV/AIDS infection rates have high incidences of stigmatization and discrimination against persons suffering from the ailment. Consequently, stigmatization is likely to lead to most of the people living with HIV/AIDS being reluctant to seek treatment. The stigma has led to most of the people that are prone to the illness being hesitant to seeking regular medical checks and diagnosis. I believe that the stigma and discrimination against persons living with HIV/AIDS have led to a significant increase in infection rates in such societies. As a result, stigmatization has led a derail on the medical practitioners' determination to curb the global HIV/AIDS epidemic (Famoroti, Fernandes & Chima, 2013, 2). Besides, I believe that stigma has led to most of the people suffering from the illness being prone to depression and suicidal thoughts. The emotional and physiological trauma associated with HIV/AIDS has instilled fear in most of the youths. I believe given the mere fact that HIV/AIDS is a chronic ailment whose cure has not been established increases the youths' reluctance to being tested. It seems the usage of the antiretroviral drugs to improve the life's quality and extend life expectancy has not yet convinced the youths. Therefore, qualitative research has to be conducted to demystify the perceptions and assumptions that stigmatization justifies the youths' decision to avoid the HIV/AIDS diagnosis.

I have been writing blogs on my website seeking to discourage HIV/AIDS stigmatization, especially in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. I have been reading articles on the high HIV/AIDS infection, especially in the Southern Africa region. Subsequently, I have read about health center workers who have conduct test conducted HIV test without the patients' consent. Additionally, some firms have terminated their employees' contract after learning of their HIV/AIDS status. Such unethical behavior from professionals is likely to magnify stigmatization within the society. My blogs seek to enlighten the health workers and employers that such incidences are unethical and the complaints can sue them for their gross misconduct (Famoroti et al., 2013, 3). Furthermore, through a mutual partnership with my colleagues, we intend to conduct anti-stigmatization clinics to lower the prejudicial attitude and beliefs towards the individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Therefore, my qualitative research blogs and anti-stigmatization programs will assist in lowering the emotional and physiological trauma persons with HIV/AIDS face.

HIV/AIDS Stigmatization Experience

A majority of the patients in KwaZulu Natal province alleged that healthcare workers had obliged them to undergo HIV testing before any surgical treatment. For instance, approximately 46% of the respondents claimed that in King Edward VIII Hospital patients were subjected to a mandatory pre-surgery HIV test (Famoroti et al., 2013, 7). It is a contentious issue given there are not apparent added advantages linked to the pre-surgery HIV tests. However, most hospitals in regions characterized by high infection rates, the pre-operation testing is a norm that is deemed as an essential precautionary measure. Most of the Indian health workers support the discriminatory pre-operative HIV tests. Some of the clinicians did not want to conduct any operations on the persons living with HIV/AIDS. In Poland, approximately 61% of the medical practitioners advocated for mandatory HIV tests on every in-patient admissions (Famoroti et al., 2013, 7). More than 90% of the physicians supported pre-operative HIV testing on surgical cases. Such negative attitudes from the medics exemplify their prejudicial discrimination against persons living with HIV/AIDS. Some of the physicians believe that the persons were infected with HIV due to their illicit affairs or prostitution and deserve to suffer for their misconduct. Consequently, they fear they might be infected in case of a botched surgery. Therefore, such discriminatory practices from the healthcare workers have promoted stigmatization against persons living with HIV/AIDS.

A group of Dominican women living with HIV/AIDS encouraged their colleagues suffering from the disease to endorse a preemptive disclosure approach on their status. However, the disclosure time is very critical. The participants suggested that infected persons should disclose their HIV status especially among their close relatives rather than them learning it from other sources. As a result, the respondents purported that the voluntary disclosure approach assists in expressing their openness rather than keeping the diagnosis as a secret (Rael et al., 2016, 2597). For that reason, the Dominican respondents encourage persons living with HIV/AIDS to minimize the stigma they face by integrating the preemptive disclosure approach.

The Dominican respondents encouraged the health stakeholders to enlighten the public on HIV/AIDS to improve its awareness. It is a feasible initiative that will reduce stigmatization by offering peer-mentoring sessions in society. The persons living with HIV should invite their relatives and friends to attend the HIV education classes. Likewise, the private and government health stakeholders should expand the outreach programs to a countrywide level to reduce the negative views on HIV infection myths (Rael et al., 2016, 2601). Hence, the peer-mentoring classes will reduce the HIV/AIDS stigma significantly in society.

Qualitative research provides a diverse perspective on stigmatization on individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Therefore, I believe that the physicians' attitude on having mandatory HIV tests on the in-patients admissions and patients who should be operated promotes stigmatization. Hence, the view and assumption that operating people living with HIV/AIDS exposes the medics to an infection risk proliferate stigmatization and discrimination. However, the preemptive disclosure approach should be endorsed by people living with HIV/AIDS to minimize the discrimination and stigmatization they face often. Finally, I believe that health stakeholders have a fundamental role in eliminating HIV/AIDS stigmatization by enlightening the public about HIV through the outreach programs.

References

Austin, Z., & Sutton, J. (2014). Qualitative Research: Getting Started. The Canadian Journal Of Hospital Pharmacy, 67(6), 436-440. doi: 10.4212/cjhp.v67i6.1406

Famoroti, T., Fernandes, L., & Chima, S. (2013). Stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS by healthcare workers at a tertiary hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: A cross-sectional descriptive study. BMC Medical Ethics, 14(Suppl 1), 1-9. doi: 10.1186/1472-6939-14-s1-s6

Rael, C., Carballo-Dieguez, A., Norton, R., Thorley, E., Giguere, R., Sheinfil, A., & Rios, J. (2016). Identifying strategies to cope with HIV-related stigma in a group of women living with HIV/AIDS in the Dominican Republic: A qualitative study. AIDS and Behavior, 21(9), 2589-2599. doi: 10.1007/s10461-016-1654-9

Saldana, J., &...