A Photovoice Exploration of the Lived Experience of Intersectional Stigma among People Living with HIV

Stigma research among people living with HIV (PLWH) has been increasingly interpreted through the framework of intersectionality, which comprehends the interwovenness of vulnerable individuals' identities. However, community-based participatory methods have not been widely employed to better understand these forms of stigma through an intersectional lens, despite such methods offering the opportunity for participants to define issues and solutions from their lived experiences. To advance this research, we employed photovoice to elicit grounded, visceral definitions of stigma for PLWH. Participants took pictures representing their identities and experiences with HIV and other stigmas and discussed them in groups and individual interviews, ultimately creating a virtual exhibit to educate and inspire others. Theme and narrative analysis uncovered patterns in the visual and textual data, revealing participants' experiences of HIV stigma based on their intersections of sexuality, race/ethnicity, illness, and roles and expectations in specific scenarios. Stigma also fostered the development of participants' strengths, such as resiliency, and new identities, such as educators. Participatory methods like photovoice, where participants can define intersectionality on their own terms, can help direct interventions to limit the PLWH's lived stigmas and increase effective coping.