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Disclosure and Stigma of a Positive HIV-Serostatus: A Two-Step Cluster Analysis of the HIV Disclosure Scale

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Abstract

Despite national efforts to improve the public’s education about an HIV diagnosis, stigma still plays a significant role in how persons living with HIV (PLH) decide to disclose their serostatus to friends, family, or healthcare workers. Disclosure can be related to both positive and negative psychological health outcomes, including rates of depression and perceived social support. Researchers often assess disclosure patterns in PLH due to its association with important health implications; however, to date, there are no empirically validated measures of HIV-serostatus disclosure. The HIV Disclosure Scale (HDS) was created to assess various aspects of the disclosure process and has been utilized in several studies as an adequate measurement of HIV-serostatus disclosure despite no available psychometric data. This study aims to uncover constructs measured by the HDS using exploratory two-step cluster analysis to provide an initial analysis of the psychometric properties of this scale.

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Funding

This study was funded by Lewis College of Human Sciences, Illinois Institute of Technology, student research scholarship awarded to Arryn A. Guy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Tech Central 3424 S State St Rm 201, Chicago, IL, 60616, USA

    Arryn A. Guy

  2. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, 38103, USA

    Kristin Niel

  3. California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University, Alhambra, CA, 91790, USA

    R. E. Franco Durán

Authors
  1. Arryn A. Guy
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  2. Kristin Niel
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  3. R. E. Franco Durán
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Correspondence to Arryn A. Guy.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Guy, A.A., Niel, K. & Franco Durán, R.E. Disclosure and Stigma of a Positive HIV-Serostatus: A Two-Step Cluster Analysis of the HIV Disclosure Scale. AIDS Behav 22, 1606–1613 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-017-1989-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-017-1989-x

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