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Influence of Male Partners on HIV Disclosure Among South African Women in a Cluster Randomized PMTCT Intervention

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Abstract

Disclosure of HIV serostatus is beneficial for women, their partners, and their infants as it enables women to actively participate in preventative care (Hodgson et al. in PLoS ONE 9(11):e111421, 2014; Odiachi et al. in Reprod Health 15(1):36, 2018). Therefore, it is important that interventions addressing HIV prevention include elements that foster disclosure of HIV to partners. This study conducted in South Africa utilizes the “Protect Your Family” (PYF) behavioral intervention and compares Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) among women participating in the program versus those in a control program. Within both groups, male partners were either present or not present for the intervention. The purpose of this study was to examine differential disclosure over time for individuals in the different conditions and partner involvement. A firth logistic regression revealed an interaction in the experimental condition with male partners participating (b = − 2.84, SE = 1.56, p = .012), in which female participants were less likely to disclose their HIV status over time. Findings from this study illustrate that additional efforts are needed to empower women to disclose their HIV status.

Resumen

Revelar su estado serológico del VIH a sus parejas es beneficioso para las mujeres, sus parejas y sus bebés, ya que les permite a las mujeres participar activamente en atención preventiva (Hodgson et al. in PLoS ONE 9(11):e111421, 2014; Odiachi et al. in Reprod Health 15(1):36, 2018). Por lo tanto, es importante que las intervenciones que aborden la prevención del VIH incluyan elementos que fomenten la revelación del estado serológico del VIH de las mujeres a sus parejas. Este estudio realizado en Sudáfrica utiliza la intervención conductual “Protege a tu familia” (PYF por sus siglas en Ingles) y compara la prevención de la transmisión de madre a hijo (PMTCT por sus siglas en Ingles) entre mujeres que participaron en el programa y las que participaron en un programa de control. Dentro de ambos grupos, los compañeros masculinos estuvieron presentes o no presentes para la intervención. El propósito de este estudio fue examinar la revelación diferente a lo largo del tiempo para individuos en diferentes condiciones y participación de pareja. Una regresión logística reveló de Firth una interacción en la condición experimental con la participación de parejas masculinas (b = − 2.84, SE = 1.56, p = .012), en las cuales las participantes femeninas tenían menos probabilidades de revelar su estado de VIH a lo largo del tiempo. Los resultados de este estudio ilustran que se necesitan esfuerzos adicionales para motivar a las mujeres a revelar su estado de VIH.

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Funding

This study was funded by a Grant from NIH, R01HD078187, and with the support of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Center for AIDS Research, funded by an NIH Grant, P30AI073961.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Dominion Towers Suite 404, 1400 NW 10th Avenue, Miami, FL, 33136, USA

    John M. Abbamonte, Stephen M. Weiss & Deborah L. Jones

  2. University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, USA

    Manasi S. Parrish

  3. Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, USA

    Tae K. Lee

  4. HIV/AIDS/STIs and TB Research Programme, Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa

    Shandir Ramlagan, Sibusiso Sifunda & Karl Peltzer

  5. Department of Research Administration and Development, University of Limpopo, Polokwane, South Africa

    Karl Peltzer

  6. Department of Psychology, University of the Free State, Bloemfontain, South Africa

    Karl Peltzer

Authors
  1. John M. Abbamonte
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  2. Manasi S. Parrish
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  8. Deborah L. Jones
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Contributions

JA and Dr. TKL performed the data analysis, and worked on the methods and results section. MP wrote the introduction. Dr. SR wrote the discussion. Dr. SS reviewed the manuscript and provided editing. Dr. SMW, Dr. KP, and Dr. DLJ were involved in study design.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Deborah L. Jones.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

Prior to study onset, ethical approval was obtained from the Mpumalanga Department of Health, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and the University of Miami (UM) Institutional Review Board. Ethical approval for the study was procured from the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) Research Ethics Committee (REC) (Number: REC4/21/08/13), the Department of Health and Welfare, Mpumalanga Provincial Government, and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Institutional Review Board (IRBID: 20130238). The study was registered as a clinical trial on clinicaltrials.gov, Number NCT02085356.

Research Involved in Human and Animal Rights

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

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Abbamonte, J.M., Parrish, M.S., Lee, T.K. et al. Influence of Male Partners on HIV Disclosure Among South African Women in a Cluster Randomized PMTCT Intervention. AIDS Behav 25, 604–614 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-020-03021-x

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