HIV+ women's narratives of non-disclosure

Resisting the label of immorality

Bibliographic Data

ID15540172
AuthorsAllison K Groves (0000-0003-4520-3963, Department of Health, corresponding author), Suzanne Maman (0000-0003-4048-1585, University of North Carolina Health Care), Dhayendre Moodley (0000-0003-1849-9631)
Year2012
Volume7
Issue8
Pages799-811
Publication date2012-05-17
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGlobal Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1744-1692 • E-ISSN: 1744-1706
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17441692.2012.679742
PMID22594880
PMCIDPMC4083735
OpenAlexW2059453814
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited46

Increasing partner disclosure rates among HIV+ individuals is widely seen as an important public health strategy to reduce HIV transmission. One approach for encouraging disclosure is to emphasise individuals' moral responsibility to disclose their status to their partners. We use South Africa as a case study to draw attention to two problems with labelling non-disclosure as immoral. First, we argue that because women are tested for HIV at much higher rates than men, any approach that involves blaming HIV+ individuals for not disclosing their status will disproportionately burden women. Second, through the narratives of six HIV+ women, we highlight how a focus on morality undervalues the complexity of sexual partnerships. Specifically, women describe how their perceived obligation to disclose their status is directly influenced by communication with their sexual partners. Women also discuss how the onset of different life events might alter the meaning of HIV and change obligations regarding disclosure within the partnership. The differences in testing rates across gender combined with the complexity of sexual partnerships leads us to suggest that labelling non-disclosure as immoral does little to advance HIV prevention. There is an urgent need to identify alternative interventions that support women through the disclosure process

General partnership · Immorality · Morality · Narrative · Obligation · Political science · Psychiatry · Psychological intervention · Public health · Self-disclosure · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology