Rutgers Nursing Magazine - Summer 2020

S R E S E A R C H E X C E L L E N C E Stigmatized groups suffer doubly: first, from the stigma itself, and then from the health consequences that arise from being stigmatized. As Dr. Corina Lelutiu-Weinberger (PhD) can attest, this is particularly true in low-to mid-income countries like Romania, where gay and bisexual men experience not just discrimination but also high rates of depression and undiagnosed or untreated HIV. Lelutiu-Weinberger is an assistant professor, community health researcher, and the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center Endowed Chair at Rutgers School of Nursing. The interconnection between illness and stigma—on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, or sexual orientation and gender—is at the crux of Lelutiu-Weinberger’s research, which focuses on solutions to a problem that vexes much of the world’s population. For the past six years, she’s worked largely in Romania to implement interventions designed to improve the health of, and reduce the stigma affecting, gay and bisexual men. In 2001, in order to gain entrance to the European Union, Romania decriminalized homosexuality, but, as Lelutiu-Weinberger notes, “people there are still carrying the same old stereotypes”—a state of affairs that keeps the majority of gay and bisexual men fearful of social rejection. “So they hide,” says Lelutiu- Weinberger, “and they don’t get tested for HIV and they unknowingly spread it to others.” The first time some of these men seek medical help is at the end of their lives, in the fluorescent glare of an emergency room. Reducing Stigma, Improving Health in Romania