Findings from the JasSpark study, which assessed whether a digital crowdsourced intervention can reduce HIV stigma and promote HIV self-testing among adolescents and young adults in Kazakhstan, were recently published in two papers.
Published in Aids & Behavior, "A content analysis of digital crowdsourced messages to reduce HIV stigma and promote testing among Kazakhstani adolescents and young adults" draws on submissions from a national crowdsourcing contest in Kazakhstan to examine how adolescents and young adults frame HIV stigma and testing in their own words and visuals. The analysis surfaces the messaging strategies that resonate most within the local cultural context, offering a roadmap for community-rooted HIV communication campaigns.
"This work is a clear demonstration that young people are not just recipients of public health messaging -- they are also thoughtful designers of it," said JasSPark PI and paper co-author Dr. Alissa Davis. "The themes participants chose to elevate tell us where stigma actually lives in their daily lives and where interventions need to meet them."
Authors: Sara E. Landers, Yihang Sun, Akbota Tolegenova, Katherine McNabb, Yang Zhao, Azamat Kuskulov, Laura Nyblade, Joseph D. Tucker, Olga Balabekova, Denis Gryazev, Gaukhar Mergenova, Alissa Davis, and the JasSpark Study Team.
In "Sexual and Gender Minority Stigma and Associations with Perceived Barriers to HIV Testing and HIV Testing Behaviors among Adolescents and Young Adults in Kazakhstan," published in Sexual Health, the study team examines how sexual and gender minority stigma shapes perceived barriers to HIV testing among adolescents and young adults in Kazakhstan, where sexual and gender minority youth face heightened structural and social marginalization.
Of this research, Dr. Davis said, "If we want to close HIV testing gaps among the young people who need testing most, we have to take stigma as seriously as we take any clinical barrier. This paper provides one more piece of evidence that social environments matter for health outcomes."
Authors: Hao Wen, Yihang Sun, Sara Landers, Gaukhar Mergenova, Olga Balabekova, Denis Gryazev, and Alissa Davis.