PLWHA’s Perspective on Community Stigma for Getting Social Support and Improving Life Quality in the Digital Era

Abstract

Community stigma against HIV/AIDS is still a problem that must be faced by people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The existence of stigmatization and discrimination received by PLWHA causes the lack of social support they get. Social support is very important for PLWHA to improve their quality of life. In this digital era where the development of technology and social media is an alternative for PLWHA to get social support online through their community, by sharing information and experiences. This systematic review was conducted through Scopus, Science Direct, ProQuest, and SAGE. The selection of articles followed inclusion criteria, including articles published in the last five years and published in English and discussing perspectives on stigma. Articles published not in English and articles with unclear literature reviews were excluded from this study. The PRISMA flow chart and JBI assessment checklist were used to assess the risk of bias and article quality. 20 relevant articles will be reviewed. The results of the study found that in this digital era PLWHA can take advantage of technological developments and social media to improve their quality of life by getting social support through the online communities they follow.