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

The decision to disclose therefore is selective, and telling one’s family is especially
difficult (Kimberly et al., 1995; Serovich et al., 1998). In deciding whom to disclose to,
the women applied criteria such as the relation to the person, whether the person is
accommodating (quality of relationship) and whether the person is capable of
maintaining confidentiality ( Sowell, Seals, Phillips & Julious, 2003).
There are three approaches to disclosure of HIV status to partners suggested in the
“Prevention with Positives” program in San Francisco (Prevention with Positives
Committee, 2005). These include:
(i) Self-disclosure with service providers supporting through coaching. The client
receives counselling after receiving HIV status results then the service
provider /counsellor supports the client to draw a disclosure plan that includes
who to tell, what and when to tell and how to tell. The client is given
opportunity to rehearse this with the counsellor.
(ii) Dual disclosure- where the person receives coaching and discloses to partner
in presence of service provider as a mediator. After the client has received
counselling and the disclosure plan made, the client will still prefer to disclose
to the partner in the presence of the counsellor so that the latter can provide
support by clarifying some issues or by easing tension and diffusing blame
amongst the partners during disclosure.
(iii) Anonymous third party disclosure -where the client can request the service
provider to offer him and partner(s) counselling and testing. In this approach
the client plans with the counsellor such that the client will come with
partner/s and both receive counselling and testing such that the counsellor will
provide the results to them irrespective of the client’s knowledge.
According to Omarzu (2000), disclosure could be inherently rewarding and creates an
obligation in the listener to return the favour. He further suggests that disclosures may be
encouraged or influenced by the actions of others. Consistent with earlier findings, King
et al. (2007) reported that several men and women who had not disclosed envisioned an
assisted or supported disclosure process using TASO counsellors. Research further shows
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