Continuities and discontinuities in the experiences of felt and enacted stigma among women with HIV/AIDS

In the post-1996 era, the effectiveness of antiviral therapies (such as highly active antiretroviral therapy [HAART]) which transformed HIV/AIDS into a more manageable disease, raised expectations that the disease's stigma would decrease. The authors compared focused interview data from a pre-HAART (1994 to 1996) and a HAART-era (2000 to 2003) sample of African American, Puerto Rican, and White women living with HIV/AIDS to identify changes in stigma experiences and suggest reasons for continued stigmatization. In both eras, general stereotypes about HIV/AIDS, as well as gender- and race-related stereotypes about the disease, were identified. Internalizing any of these stereotypes was a necessary and sufficient condition for feeling stigmatized. Instances of enacted stigmatization were more frequent and intense in the pre-HAART era. Nevertheless, misinformation and irrational fears of contagion, which triggered stigmatizing behavior, persisted into the HAART era. This analysis revealed that although enacted stigmatization has decreased