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Do support groups members disclose less to their partners? The dynamics of HIV disclosure in four African countries

BACKGROUND: Recent efforts to curtail the HIV epidemic in Africa have emphasised preventing sexual transmission to partners through antiretroviral therapy. A component of current strategies is disclosure to partners, thus understanding its motivations will help maximise results. This study examines...

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Autores principales: Hardon, Anita, Gomez, Gabriela B, Vernooij, Eva, Desclaux, Alice, Wanyenze, Rhoda K, Ky-Zerbo, Odette, Kageha, Emmy, Namakhoma, Ireen, Kinsman, John, Spronk, Clare, Meij, Edgar, Neuman, Melissa, Obermeyer, Carla Makhlouf
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3698057/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23773542
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-589
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author Hardon, Anita
Gomez, Gabriela B
Vernooij, Eva
Desclaux, Alice
Wanyenze, Rhoda K
Ky-Zerbo, Odette
Kageha, Emmy
Namakhoma, Ireen
Kinsman, John
Spronk, Clare
Meij, Edgar
Neuman, Melissa
Obermeyer, Carla Makhlouf
author_facet Hardon, Anita
Gomez, Gabriela B
Vernooij, Eva
Desclaux, Alice
Wanyenze, Rhoda K
Ky-Zerbo, Odette
Kageha, Emmy
Namakhoma, Ireen
Kinsman, John
Spronk, Clare
Meij, Edgar
Neuman, Melissa
Obermeyer, Carla Makhlouf
author_sort Hardon, Anita
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Recent efforts to curtail the HIV epidemic in Africa have emphasised preventing sexual transmission to partners through antiretroviral therapy. A component of current strategies is disclosure to partners, thus understanding its motivations will help maximise results. This study examines the rates, dynamics and consequences of partner disclosure in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda, with special attention to the role of support groups and stigma in disclosure. METHODS: The study employs mixed methods, including a cross-sectional client survey of counselling and testing services, focus groups, and in-depth interviews with HIV-positive individuals in stable partnerships in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda, recruited at healthcare facilities offering HIV testing. RESULTS: Rates of disclosure to partners varied between countries (32.7% – 92.7%). The lowest rate was reported in Malawi. Reasons for disclosure included preventing the transmission of HIV, the need for care, and upholding the integrity of the relationship. Fear of stigma was an important reason for non-disclosure. Women reported experiencing more negative reactions when disclosing to partners. Disclosure was positively associated with living in urban areas, higher education levels, and being male, while being negatively associated with membership to support groups. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding of reasons for disclosure and recognition of the role of support groups in the process can help improve current prevention efforts, that increasingly focus on treatment as prevention as a way to halt new infections. Support groups can help spread secondary prevention messages, by explaining to their members that antiretroviral treatment has benefits for HIV positive individuals and their partners. Home-based testing can further facilitate partner disclosure, as couples can test together and be counselled jointly.
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spelling pubmed-36980572013-07-02 Do support groups members disclose less to their partners? The dynamics of HIV disclosure in four African countries Hardon, Anita Gomez, Gabriela B Vernooij, Eva Desclaux, Alice Wanyenze, Rhoda K Ky-Zerbo, Odette Kageha, Emmy Namakhoma, Ireen Kinsman, John Spronk, Clare Meij, Edgar Neuman, Melissa Obermeyer, Carla Makhlouf BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: Recent efforts to curtail the HIV epidemic in Africa have emphasised preventing sexual transmission to partners through antiretroviral therapy. A component of current strategies is disclosure to partners, thus understanding its motivations will help maximise results. This study examines the rates, dynamics and consequences of partner disclosure in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda, with special attention to the role of support groups and stigma in disclosure. METHODS: The study employs mixed methods, including a cross-sectional client survey of counselling and testing services, focus groups, and in-depth interviews with HIV-positive individuals in stable partnerships in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda, recruited at healthcare facilities offering HIV testing. RESULTS: Rates of disclosure to partners varied between countries (32.7% – 92.7%). The lowest rate was reported in Malawi. Reasons for disclosure included preventing the transmission of HIV, the need for care, and upholding the integrity of the relationship. Fear of stigma was an important reason for non-disclosure. Women reported experiencing more negative reactions when disclosing to partners. Disclosure was positively associated with living in urban areas, higher education levels, and being male, while being negatively associated with membership to support groups. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding of reasons for disclosure and recognition of the role of support groups in the process can help improve current prevention efforts, that increasingly focus on treatment as prevention as a way to halt new infections. Support groups can help spread secondary prevention messages, by explaining to their members that antiretroviral treatment has benefits for HIV positive individuals and their partners. Home-based testing can further facilitate partner disclosure, as couples can test together and be counselled jointly. BioMed Central 2013-06-17 /pmc/articles/PMC3698057/ /pubmed/23773542 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-589 Text en Copyright © 2013 Hardon et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Hardon, Anita
Gomez, Gabriela B
Vernooij, Eva
Desclaux, Alice
Wanyenze, Rhoda K
Ky-Zerbo, Odette
Kageha, Emmy
Namakhoma, Ireen
Kinsman, John
Spronk, Clare
Meij, Edgar
Neuman, Melissa
Obermeyer, Carla Makhlouf
Do support groups members disclose less to their partners? The dynamics of HIV disclosure in four African countries
title Do support groups members disclose less to their partners? The dynamics of HIV disclosure in four African countries
title_full Do support groups members disclose less to their partners? The dynamics of HIV disclosure in four African countries
title_fullStr Do support groups members disclose less to their partners? The dynamics of HIV disclosure in four African countries
title_full_unstemmed Do support groups members disclose less to their partners? The dynamics of HIV disclosure in four African countries
title_short Do support groups members disclose less to their partners? The dynamics of HIV disclosure in four African countries
title_sort do support groups members disclose less to their partners? the dynamics of hiv disclosure in four african countries
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3698057/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23773542
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-589
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