Perceived Benefits and Drawbacks of Disclosure Practices: An Analysis of PLWHAs’ Strategies for Disclosing HIV Status

Abstract

People living with HIV/AIDS must make decisions about how, where, when, what, and to whom to disclose their HIV status. This study explores their perceptions of benefits and drawbacks of various HIV disclosure strategies. The authors interviewed 53 people living with HIV/AIDS from a large AIDS service organization in a northeastern U.S. state and used a combination of deductive and inductive coding to analyze disclosure strategies and advantages and disadvantages of disclosure strategies. Deductive codes consisted of eight strategies subsumed under three broad categories: mode (face-to-face, non-face-to-face, and third-party disclosure), context (setting, bringing a companion, and planning a time), and content (practicing and incremental disclosure). Inductive coding identified benefits and drawbacks for enacting each specific disclosure strategy. The discussion focuses on theoretical explanations for the reasons for and against disclosure strategy enactment and the utility of these findings for practical interventions concerning HIV disclosure practices and decision making.

An Institutional Field of People Living with HIV/AIDS Organizations in Tanzania: Agency, Culture, Dialogue, and Structure

“…They found participants seeking emotional support more than material support. Studies have also examined PLWHA's status disclosures such as strategies and target reactions (e.g., Miller and Rubin, 2007;Catona et al, 2015). For example, Caughlin et al (2009) studied U.S. college students' reactions to disclosure messages from a hypothetical sibling.…”

Characterizing Sexual Orientation Disclosure to Health Care Providers: Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Perspectives

“…In particular, they must consider how to share the information and what specific information to share. In efforts to provide greater clarity of how disclosure may occur, recent research has examined strategies individuals use when disclosing their private or secret information (Afifi & Steuber, 2009;Catona, Greene, & Magsamen-Conrad, 2015;Manning, 2014b). Afifi and Steuber (2009) provide six nonexclusive strategies for disclosing family secrets to others, including preparation and rehearsal, directness, third-party revelations, incremental disclosures, entrapment, and indirect mediums.…”

“…Afifi and Steuber (2009) provide six nonexclusive strategies for disclosing family secrets to others, including preparation and rehearsal, directness, third-party revelations, incremental disclosures, entrapment, and indirect mediums. Catona et al (2015) examines strategies for sharing HIV/AIDS status with others and provides the benefits and drawbacks of approaches to disclosure. Manning (2014b) provides a coming-out typology that includes seven potential approaches, and two approaches appear particularly relevant to the medical interaction: preplanned and emergent.…”

“…Afifi and Steuber (2009) describe preparation and rehearsal as a strategy that occurs when individuals plan for and practice disclosing sensitive messages. This strategy parallels preplanned disclosure (Manning, 2014a) and practicing (Catona et al, 2015). An example includes creating a script before disclosing one's sexual orientation (Manning, 2014b).…”

“…Manning (2014a) described that in response to providers' heteronormative question about sexual activity and heterosexual partners, gay and bisexual participants disclosed their orientation in order to correct provider misinformation. A benefit of this strategy is that it can be efficient; one potential drawback is that the recipient may not have anticipated the information and may react differently and more negatively than had the recipient anticipated the information (Catona et al, 2015).…”