Disclosure of Hiv status to sexual partners among people who ...

approaches including suggesting that they should both go for VCT, without revealing that
they already knew their own sero-status while others still hesitated knowing that such
news would be devastating to the partner (Miller & Rubin, 2007).
Disclosure should be viewed as a process and not a one-time event. This process involves
a series of decisions that include when the individual may disclose, to whom, how to
disclose and under what circumstances to disclose. Maman et al. (2001) suggest to
counsellors that providing a one-time counselling may not suffice for some women that
might need to weigh the consequences and rewards of disclosure as well as develop a
disclosure plan.
Kimberly (1995) suggests a six-step process in decision making for disclosure that
includes:
(i) Acceptance of sero-status - which involves the individual who has received
the HIV positive results after being counselled adjusting to the diagnosis and
accepting to live with this condition;
(ii) Assessing one’s disclosure skills - which includes what one wants to tell based
on how much one has learnt about HIV and their HIV status and how one will
communicate this to the people they choose;
(iii) Deciding whom to tell - which involves assessing and making a decision
whom one should disclose to at a particular time;
(iv) Evaluating the recipient’s circumstances- this may include considering when
to tell this person , where to tell them from and whether the persons are
capable of handling disclosed information ;
(v) Anticipating likely reactions -which involves what the best is that one can
hope for or the worst one would have to deal with; and
(vi) Considering one’s motivation for disclosure- which enables one to reflect on
why one wants to tell the people they are telling basing on what one expects
from them.
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