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The Complexity of Women’s Lives: Decision-making about Maternal HIV Disclosure

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Abstract

HIV/AIDS has reached epidemic levels in Washington, D.C. and mothers living with HIV increasingly have to make difficult decisions about whether or not to disclose their HIV status to their children. Focus groups were conducted with a sample of women (N = 15) living in Washington, D.C. to investigate maternal decision-making about HIV disclosure, the factors that influenced disclosure, challenges to disclosure, and children’s reactions to disclosure. This was a first step towards the larger goal of developing a culturally sensitive disclosure decision-making intervention. Participants were asked to identify elements to include in such an intervention. We also quantitatively examined participants’ psychosocial outcomes of depression, perceived social support, quality of life, and parenting challenges. Our preliminary findings showed that most participants experienced intense emotional distress after receiving an HIV diagnosis and this distress prevented them from disclosing their HIV status to family members and children. Several specific parenting concerns (e.g., age and gender of child, relationship to child, and number of children) influenced their decisions to disclose. All participants reported that HIV related stigma and discrimination as significant disclosure-related challenges. Health providers were not always perceived as being able to support participants in making a decision about whether or not to disclose their HIV status to their children.

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Notes

  1. When citing survey statistics, the paper uses the term Hispanic or Latina as corresponds to the survey source. Otherwise, the paper uses the term Latina to refer to women of Latin American origin or descent.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by a grant from Georgetown University’s Department of psychiatry awarded to P. Dass-Brailsford.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Georgetown University & The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, 2115 Wisconsin Ave. NW Suite 200, Washington DC, 20007, USA

    Priscilla Dass-Brailsford & David L. Kwasnik

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  1. Priscilla Dass-Brailsford
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  2. Anne K. Eckman
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  3. David L. Kwasnik
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Correspondence to Priscilla Dass-Brailsford.

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Dass-Brailsford, P., Eckman, A.K. & Kwasnik, D.L. The Complexity of Women’s Lives: Decision-making about Maternal HIV Disclosure. Curr Psychol 33, 557–577 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-014-9229-2

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