New Era University

College of Arts and Sciences

Psychology Program
No. 9 Central Avenue, New Era, Quezon City, 1107

Breaking the HIV Stigma: A social experiment on how the public would respond for a
favor involving physical contact being made by an HIV positive person.

An Undergraduate Research Presented to

College of Arts and Sciences
New Era University-QC

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of Bachelor of Science
Major in Psychology

Submitted to:
Prof. Jovito Espinas

Submitted by:
Cabacungan, Alyssa jane B.
Martin, Patrick
Montifar, Estrelfae
Narral, Anamed
Rudio, Dinah Gia Samantha

January 2019
 Introduction

Human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, is the virus that causes AIDS. HIV/AIDS

weakens a person's ability to fight infections. It is contracted through unprotected sex or needle

sharing. An HIV test confirms diagnosis. Medications may suppress the virus and delay the onset

of AIDS.

HIV-related stigma and discrimination refers to prejudice, negative attitudes and abuse

directed at people living with HIV and AIDS. In 35% of countries with available data, over

50% of people report having discriminatory attitudes towards people living with HIV.1. Stigma

and discrimination also makes people vulnerable to HIV.

HIV-related stigma and discrimination still persist in the United States and negatively

affect the health and well-being of people living with HIV. You can play an important role in

reducing stigma and discrimination by offering your support to people living with HIV and

speaking out to correct myths and stereotypes that you hear from others in your community.

The People Living with HIV Stigma Index in The Philippines was conducted from October

2009 to January 2010. A total of 80 individuals took part in the People Living with HIV Stigma

Index research. Majority (61.3%) are men, and four in ten (37.5%) were women and only one

respondent self-identified as transgender.

Workplace discrimination in the Philippines includes refusal to hire, unlawful firing, and

forced resignation of people with HIV. Some employers may also disregard or actively facilitate

workplace harassment of employees who are HIV positive. In most of the discrimination cases

that Human Rights Watch documented, employees with HIV did not file formal complaints, most
frequently due to fear of being further exposed as HIV positive, which could prevent future

employment.

According to Conde (2018), “The Philippines faces a double whammy of increasing HIV

infection and fears by workers with HIV that they can’t seek justice if they are discriminated

against on the job, the government needs to ensure that people living with HIV get better protection

in their jobs and that the public gets more and better information on HIV.”

On another statement made by Bagas (2018) the government faces one of the biggest

challenge, this is the stigmatization of people with HIV. “An emphasis on human rights, removing

the stigma and discrimination against vulnerable sectors.” Bagas was trying to say that even the

LGBT community deserves to exercise their human rights and one of it is being freed from the

stigma and discrimination they are experiencing.

 Procedure

This social experiment would be conducted in a public mall (ex. Mall, plazas, school, etc.)

A person from the group of researchers would be pretending to be HIV positive and simply let the

public know about being infected with the disease by holding a signage stating that a hug or a pat

on the back or any pleasant physical contact would be appreciated, to break the stigma between

HIV positive people and show that the disease would not be transmitted by simple physical

contacts.

Participants

People that would be present around the selected public place.

Significance of the Study

The study would be beneficial to people who are lacking the knowledge about HIV and the

possible ways on transmitting this disease. It also beneficial to the people infected with HIV since

the stigma about their disease hopefully would be lessened or in a better way, gone.