HIV stigma and its metaphors: Photos, symbols, and solutions

Abstract The objective of this study was to explore how PLWH use visual metaphors to describe and make sense of stigma. This study solicited PLWH’s experiences with stigma via photovoice—a participatory research method in which participants use images to identify, share, and advocate for their needs and experiences. Photographs and discussions centered on stigma as two-parted, including both challenge and resilience. Participants used eight different categories of visual metaphors to describe their experiences of stigma (e.g., how it felt, what it was like) and four different categories of visual metaphors to describe their resilience or resistance to stigma. Participant photography and photo-elicitation is an accessible method to combine arts and health, especially for discovering ways patients understand and explain their perceptions of difference. Creative photography can help patients express themselves, practitioners understand illness, and frame health promotion and prevention programs.