The Impact Of Status Disclosure From Hiv Positive Individuals

The AIDS epidemic began in the early to mid-1980’s and since it’s recognition in America it has become a very heated and debated topic among health professionals, the gay community, and most of all for the ones that are carrying the virus. The real debate is not over the virus itself but, rather about the infected individuals and whether or not they should be made morally obligated to tell their sexual partners if they are in fact infected. Both sides of the argument make very valid points. From one standpoint you have the gay community that believe in “safer sex ethic”, which keeps their partners in the dark about their overall health status and feel they are not morally obligated to tell their

According to recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, approximately 1.2 million individuals in the United States have HIV (about 14 percent of which are unaware of their infection and another 1.1 million have progressed to AIDS. Over the past decade, the number of HIV cases in the US has increased, however, the annual number of cases remains stable at about 50, 000 new cases per year. Within these estimates, certain groups tend to carry the burden of these disease, particularly the gay, bisexual, and men who have sex with men (MSM) and among race/ethnic groups, Blacks/African American males remain disproportionately affected. (CDC)

With the help of government programs such as the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) as well as multiple other methods of sociological research and social justice work, there have been shifts toward better understanding this disease, those which are living with it, and the societal impact one’s own prejudices can make toward an individual living with AIDS. However, discrepancies still exist within how to properly educate others on the disease, how to recognize it as a disability within the context of our society, and how we must reconcile stigmas that play a role in plaguing any sort of positive conversation on the topic. With well-informed citizens on the issues of HIV and AIDS patients, not only can we reduce the stigma associated with the illness, but also work toward medical advancements that assist those living with HIV in a nondiscriminatory manner.

Failure to protect subject’s personal information, is an example of not complying the above two principles in the research industry. Researchers are in a position of dealing with a great deal of very personal information that their participants have agreed to disclose. Depending on the type of study, personal identifiers such as names, birthdates, places of residence etc. may or may not have to be collected. In situations where these data are collected, researchers may take several steps to ensure the confidentiality of their participants’

But before we discuss ways in reducing HIV stigma, we should talk about what it consists of in Baton Rouge. Stigma can become a chronic stressor that leads to poor coping skills, inadequate self-care, and risky sexual behaviors (Johnson et al. 72). According to an HIV Infrastructure Study conducted by the Southern HIV/AIDS Initiative, they discussed what the HIV stigma consisted of in Baton Rouge. After a few interviews with employees in HIV/AIDS clinics and people living with HIV/AIDS, they stated that one of the main reasons why people refuse to go to a clinic to get HIV tested or delay testing is because they are afraid that people they know might see them getting tested and assume the worst from them (Reif et al. 12). People also don’t want to get tested because they fear the repercussions of getting tested positive for HIV and that their family or loved ones might shun them away if they were HIV-positive. People should not care about who is going to see them getting tested because they are being smart about taking steps in knowing their HIV status instead of waiting to show signs of AIDS infection and then it’ll be too late to get any treatment. Moreover, one study evaluating the HIV Stigma Scale had some key observations. Out of one-hundred and ten HIV-positive African-Americans that were picked for this study, some of the appalling statements they agreed with the most

The stigma towards HIV positive African-American women also exists within their own communities; unfortunately, this stigma towards these women does not encourage them to come out as HIV positive individuals. The problem with this fear is that it not only worsens the anguish for the sick individual, but also puts the people around the individual at risk. In “Social Context of Rural Women with HIV/AIDS,” authors Kenneth D. Phillips, Linda Moneyham, Sandra P. Thomas, Mary Gunther, Medha Vyavaharkar discuss the significance of the stigma felt by HIV positive women; the authors point out that the existing stigma causes these women to live in secret (2011). In order to keep their illness hidden, they would have to be maintain some form of normalcy with the people around them. Societal stigma plays an important role in the occurrence of HIV; it can be studied by examining the results of “stigma reduction” in African-American communities (Loutfy et al, 2015). HIV stigma reduction is difficult when dealing with African-American women because the stigma of sexism and racism cannot be ignored. One of the other effects of stigma is depression (Logie, James, Tharao, & Loutfy, 2012). In a “multi-method community-based research (CBR) study with Women’s Health in Women’s Hands (WLWH) across Ontario,’’ researchers also found that other forms of stigma like race and gender do correlate with the stigma felt by HIV positive African-American women

HIV is highly prevalent among the United States population, primarily affecting African Americans of all economic levels and age groups. HIV is transmissible through sexual contact and damages the immune system as it interferes with the individual’s capability to fight off any infections or illnesses. Health inequalities that greatly affect the high rates of HIV include but are not limited to: higher rates of poverty, lack of awareness, intercourse within the same sex, having anxiety towards getting tested for STD’s or HIV, as well as being fearful of “coming out”. Local, state, and nationwide organizations are designed to inform and provide assistance to those who have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. S.A.A.F. (Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation)

Stigma and seroconversion are a few familiar words that come to mind when dealing with human immunodeficiency virus, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome HIV/AIDS. These are a few processes that people go through when they are identified as being HIV positive. HIV is a virus that weakens the immune system and leaves people less able to fight infection. “Medical privacy and antiretroviral therapy among HIV- infected female inmates,” is an article written by Roberson in Journal of Nursing Laws in 2012.Throughout the article it informed the reader about HIV positive female inmates not receiving medical privacy. The intended audience of his article is nurses, nursing students, and prison staff.

Not to mention, the position and pressure placed up on the professional knowing the status of an individual, with HIV/AIDS. On the contrary, he/she must refrain fron disclosure to others, about that persons health

It was not until Jose had a really bad gum infection that he decided to disclose his HIV status to one of his close friends. “ Decisions to disclose depends on how long the person has been HIV positive, access to social and emotional resources and the nature of the relationship” (Kalichman, S. C., Klein, S. J., Kalichman, M. O., O'Connell, D.,A., Freedman, J. A., Eaton, L., & Cain, D.

Many researchers have spent time documenting the degree and effects of stigmatization on different chronic illness. Studies have shown that the stigmatization surrounding HIV causes “emotional distress, anxiety, depression, poor self-esteem, limited sources of social support, relationship issues, concealment of disease after prognosis, poor adherence to treatment, increased disability, and diminished quality of life” (Cataldo et al, 2011, p. 47). Interviews conducted by Barbara Blake, Lois Robley, Gloria Taylor, nursing professors from Kennesaw State University in Georgia, revealed even young adults living with HIV are stigmatized and that this stigmatization effects their daily lives. One participant reported that his classmates called [him]

In the 1990’s the stigma behind HIV/AIDS was heavily swayed towards the gay community. During this time, I spent my days in high school looking for ways to change the world and help people. While most of the kids my age were thinking about future plans and going to college I was thinking about ways to give back and make a difference in at least one person’s life. By my senior year I had joined a student club called Teens Taking Charge (TTC), run by our gym teacher. We were peer educators on HIV/AIDS. We provided support, held fundraisers, set up informational tables, answered questions, and participated in county wide events. There was an organization in Lancaster called AIDS Community Alliance that supported and sponsored us. As a peer educator

Women use a variety of ways to try to account for their sexually transmitted diseases, both to themselves and to others. Nack divided these methods into 2 main categories, stigma nonacceptance, and stigma acceptance. Nack’s article used a study of 28 women, 19 of whom initially utilized techniques from the stigma nonacceptance category and 9 of whom appeared to immediately accept the diagnosis and shared the information with select family members or friends soon after receiving the news. This seems to show that for the majority of women in the study there was a process when moving from stigma nonacceptance to stigma acceptance.

Prejudice toward groups who have or are at risk for AIDS. Social isolation and fear of disclosure of AIDS. Discrimination against people infected with HIV, or at risk for it, indirectly but powerfully affects their quality of life, their ability to participate in self-care and the ability to change high-risk behavior. Nursing student

Correspondingly, What happens if HIV positive individuals decide not to disclose their status to their sexual partners? How do the victims feel and what laws do they think should be set in place to prevent the transmission of HIV? K.J. Horvath, R.M. Weinmeyer, and B.R.S. Rosser (2010) examined the overall patterns and outlooks towards criminalization of non-disclose of men with HIV who have sex with other men. In the study the participants who were from different states were asked to complete a 70-minute survey over the course of a 3 ½ months which entailed accessing attitudes and high risk behavior. The goal of this study was to describe the overall pattern and predictors of attitudes toward criminalizing unprotected sex without disclosure by persons living with HIV among a broad sample of men who have sex with men living in the USA. The study found 65% thought it should be illegal for an HIV-positive person to have unprotected sex without disclosure, 23% thought it should not be illegal, and 12% were unsure. However, the results did not show that the justification of HIV Laws would lead to a decrease in the spread of the virus. “Items used for the purpose of this study were taken from a larger online survey of online and offline sexual attitudes and behaviors, substance use, and laws relevant to the GLBT community.” (p.1222) Additionally, What happens when a person’s HIV status is disclosed with or without their consent? Can the intent of the disclosure determine the