Marseille 2007
| Abstract #465 - The impact of being HIV positive on social relations: experiences of ART patients in Durban, South Africa | ||||
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Session: 6.6: Posters A (Poster) on Monday in Chaired by Authors: Presenting Author: Dr Priya Patil - MEASURE Evaluation/Constella Futures, United States |
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| Aim: Study Objectives The objective of this paper is to understand the effect a persons HIV positive status has on the social relationships they maintain after discovering they are HIV positive and begin antiretroviral therapy (ART). The data come from a study undertaken to understand the social factors that influence patients to miss doses or drop out altogether from an ART program in Durban, South Africa. The paper assesses the direct and indirect disclosure of sero-status among persons on ART to understand how these individuals maintain social contacts after testing positive. | ||||
| Method / Issue: Adult patients in an ART program from a private hospital in Durban were interviewed about their experiences initiating ART, taking their medications, their health before and during their treatment, and their social relationships. All respondents, men and women, had been on ART for three months or more, and all reported that they rarely or never missed taking their medications on time. Respondents were selected from a queue in a waiting area of an ART clinic. A total of 48 men and women aged 25 to 55 years old were interviewed in isiZulu with a semi-structured questionnaire. The study was conducted in 2005 by the Centre for HIV/AIDS Networking (HIVAN) of Kwa-Zulu Natal University under the auspices of the Adhere Project supported by MEASURE Evaluation. | ||||
| Results / Comments: All respondents were tested for HIV because they were sick, their doctor ordered an HIV test, or as part of antenatal services for pregnant women. Respondents talked at length about the process of letting other people know about their status or not and their thoughts about who knew and who did not know: to sexual partners; close family members; friends; and others including employers. Most respondents were extremely concerned about limiting the knowledge of their sero-status to only a few people. Systematic differences in social contacts were found by sex, by household living conditions, and by economic dependence or independence. | ||||
| Discussion: HIV testing and treatment programs often emphasize disclosure of test results to prevent HIV transmission. A few studies have examined the revelation of HIV sero-status to sexual partnersdirect disclosureand have generated rates of disclosure. Yet disclosure may be direct or indirect. Indirect disclosurerevealing signs of positive sero-statuscan also affect social relations, since others assume HIV status without having been told directly. These data show how critically important it is for HIV positive persons to manage the knowledge of their sero-status and to control access to that knowledge. Disclosure studies should focus not so much on rates, but more on how individuals negotiate the knowledge of their sero-status with those in their social network. | ||||
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