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HIV status disclosure to families for social support in South Africa (NIMH Project Accept/HPTN 043)
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

HIV status disclosure to families for social support in South Africa (NIMH Project Accept/HPTN 043)

Suzanne Maman, Heidi van Rooyen and Allison K. Groves
AIDS care, v 26(2)
01 Feb 2014
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09540121.2013.819400
PMID: 23875539
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
url
https://europepmc.org/articles/pmc4074900?pdf=renderView
Accepted (AM)Open Access (License Unspecified),  Open

Abstract

disclosure HIV/AIDS social support South Africa
Literature on HIV status disclosure among persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) is dominated by research on the rates, barriers and consequences of disclosure to sexual partners, because of the assumed preventive health benefits of partner disclosure. Disclosure of HIV status can lead to an increase in social support and other positive psychosocial outcomes for PLWHA, but disclosure can also be associated with negative social outcomes including stigma, discrimination, and violence. The purpose of this article is to describe the HIV status disclosure narratives of PLWHA living in South Africa. Thirty in-depth interviews were conducted with 13 PLWHA (11 women, 2 men) over a three-year period. We explored disclosure narratives of the PLWHA through questions about who they chose to disclose to, how they disclosed to these individuals, and how these individuals reacted. Narratives focused on disclosure to family members and contained relatively little discussion of disclosure to sexual partners. Participants often disclosed first to one trusted family member, and news of the diagnosis remained with this person for a long period of time, prior to sharing with others. This family member helped the PLWHA cope with the news of their diagnosis and prepared them to disclose to others. Disclosure to one's partner was motivated primarily by a desire to encourage partners to test for HIV. Two participants described overtly negative reactions from a partner upon disclosure, and none of the PLWHA in this sample described very supportive relationships with their partners after disclosure. The critical role that family members played in the narratives of these PLWHA emphasizes the need for a greater focus on disclosure to families for social support in HIV counseling protocols.

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81 citations in Web of Science
76 citations in Scopus

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Health Policy & Services
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Respiratory System
Social Sciences, Biomedical
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