Background: Stigma is an individual and social phenomenon that causes patients’ isolation from the society and fear of society from the patient. Knowing the transmission ways of HIV virus has caused extensive stigmatization towards people affected. In this study, we tried to evaluate the stigma of medical students (externs and interns) toward HIV carriers.
Methods: To evaluate the stigma, AIDS-related stigma questionnaire devised by Mahendra et al. that its reliability and validity were previously ascertained was used. The questions were approved by experts after translation to Persian and cultural adaptation. The questionnaire was completed by 19 medical students in clinical courses who passed the department of infectious diseases and their knowledge about HIV was acceptable.
Results: 84% of the population studied had phobia after contacting with saliva of HIV- infected individuals. In addition, 69% of subjects stated that they will not purchase anything from stores with HIV-infected salesman. Forty-seven percent of respondents expressed that if an HIV-infected person is hospitalized on a bed; they would reduce their care and would transfer the patient to the isolation room. Also, 11% of subjects mentioned that if their spouse got infected with the HIV, they would leave him/her.
Conclusion: Higher levels of negative judgment and discrimination in medical students in this study showed a low level of education in the field of social factors affecting diseases. The most important factor for reducing stigma is education; therefore, it is recommended to train the medical students about these issues for alleviating the problem.