This study aims to measure HIV/AIDS-related stigma and community PrEP-related stigma among graduate psychology students in Puerto Rico. Stigma toward persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) continues to be a significant barrier to health, well-being, and equitable treatment, particularly in contexts such as Puerto Rico, where prevalence remains among the highest in the Caribbean. As future mental health professionals, psychology students' perceptions may directly influence the quality of care provided to PLWHA.


A non-experimental, cross-sectional design will be employed with a convenience sample of approximately 100 participants recruited through snowball sampling. Data will be collected using three instruments: a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Puerto Rico-developed HIV/AIDS Stigma Scale, and the Community PrEP-Related Stigma Scale, which has been translated into Spanish using the Brislin method to ensure semantic and conceptual equivalence.


If this abstract is accepted, at the time of the conference, descriptive statistics will be provided summarizing sample characteristics and item responses. Reliability analyses will be conducted, followed by bivariate correlations between HIV/AIDS stigma and PrEP stigma. Multivariate regression models will examine whether demographic variables such as gender, sexual orientation, academic level, and prior HIV/AIDS-related training significantly predict stigma levels, while controlling for age and religious affiliation. It is expected that students will report above-neutral levels of stigma, with significant associations between the two scales and predictive contributions of key demographics. Findings will be discussed in terms of their implications for studies of stigma impact and intervention.