# Reducing Stigma to Improve HIV/AIDS Prevention, Treatment, and Care among Adolescents Living with HIV in Botswana

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2020 · $172,866

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Considerable research has been conducted on HIV stigma, documenting its high prevalence worldwide. HIV
stigma has been tied to adverse effects on HIV prevention, treatment engagement, adherence to antiretroviral
therapy (ART). HIV stigma and its accompanying fear of discrimination also adversely affect viral load,
depression, suicidality, self-esteem, quality of life, and HIV-transmission risk. Despite the progress in
documenting the prevalence and negative consequences of HIV stigma, little is known about the best way to
reduce stigma’s deleterious impact. Accordingly, the broad objective of this research is to identify interventions
to reduce HIV stigma and its impact on HIV prevention, treatment, and care and health among adolescents
living with HIV (ALWH) in Botswana, a sub-Saharan African nation with the third highest HIV prevalence in the
world. Another important goal is to improve the capacity of researchers in Botswana to develop interventions to
improve HIV prevention, treatment, and care. This project is a collaborative effort of a multidisciplinary team of
researchers from the United States and the Republic of Botswana who have a history of collaborating and
draws on a more than decade-long University of Botswana-University of Pennsylvania partnership. Members of
the team have developed several efficacious HIV risk-reduction interventions for a variety of populations of
adolescents. Specifically, the team will conduct preliminary exploratory research to develop a theory-based,
developmentally and culturally appropriate HIV stigma-reduction intervention to improve ART adherence and
reduce HIV stigma’s adverse impact on adolescents’ health. The intervention will be an adaptation of Teen
Club, an intervention implemented with Batswana ALWH ages 13 to 17 years since 2005 that does not
address HIV stigma. The bane of intervention research is that resulting efficacious interventions too often are
not disseminated because they are not sustainable in the settings that need them. We seek to circumvent this
problem by adapting an intervention employed for over 10 years in the proposed setting, resulting in an
intervention with a high probability of sustainability. We will conduct focus groups with ALWH, peer educators
who implement the existing program, and parents and other caregivers of ALWH, conduct a survey with ALWH
to examine correlates of stigma, consult with a Community Advisory Board, and integrate what we learn with
Social Cognitive Theory to adapt the intervention to address HIV stigma while ensuring that it is theory-based
and developmentally and culturally appropriate. We will conduct a pilot feasibility randomized controlled trial
(RCT) to determine the adapted intervention’s feasibility and acceptability. The proposed work includes a
Science of Behavior Change Fellows Program with a series of workshops implemented in concert with the
project’s activities to improve the capacity of researchers in Botswana to develop...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9921510
- **Project number:** 5R21TW011260-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Bagele M Chilisa
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $172,866
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-15 → 2022-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9921510

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9921510, Reducing Stigma to Improve HIV/AIDS Prevention, Treatment, and Care among Adolescents Living with HIV in Botswana (5R21TW011260-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9921510. Licensed CC0.

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