The role of stigma in the acceptance and disclosure of HIV among recently diagnosed men who have sex with men in Australia: A qualitative study

Abstract

BackgroundOur primary study aimed to explore the experiences of men who have sex with men (MSM) recently diagnosed with HIV and their partner notification practices. Themes relating to acceptance, and disclosure of, their HIV status strongly emerged during analysis in our larger study and are reported separately here.MethodFifteen MSM participated in semi-structured interviews by phone or face to face about their experience of a recent HIV diagnosis. In this paper we report on how they received and accepted the diagnosis, who they disclosed their diagnosis to and what is needed to improve support for MSM recently diagnosed with HIV.ResultsMSM’s reactions to their HIV diagnosis ranged from shock, devastation and anger to a calm acceptance and feeling HIV would not have a significant impact on their lives. MSM who reported strong social support networks, or knew others with HIV, seemed better able to cope with and accept their diagnosis than those with fewer support networks. Due to prevailing stigma around HIV, most MSM were very selective about who they disclosed their status to, often only telling partners perceived to be at risk but no, or only few, close friends. Regardless of how well men accepted their diagnosis, most did not disclose their status to family members for fear of rejection or causing distress due to ideologies based on outdated information about HIV.ConclusionThe prevailing stigma around HIV can have a significant impact on MSM’s acceptance of, and willingness to disclose their HIV serostatus to others, and consequently the levels of professional and social support they receive. HIV-related stigma needs to be addressed through community campaigns which better educate the wider population about the current state of HIV prognosis and treatment.

Ensuring Optimal Community HIV Testing Services in Nigeria Using an Enhanced Community Case-Finding Package (ECCP), October 2019–March 2020: Acceleration to HIV Epidemic Control

“…This decline was due to the reason highlighted earlier. Index testing is shown to improve positivity rates and testing efficiency, 7,8 which in this study also improved our chances of identifying more positive individuals, even though index clients sometimes were reluctant to provide information about their sexual partners due to stigma and fear of rejection 24 as observed by low overall elicitation ratio of 1.7:1. The overall positivity rate from the index testing stream in this study was 21.4%, which implied that every 1 out of 5 partners tested was positive.…”

A Secondary Analysis of Peer Support and Family Acceptance Among Homosexual Living with HIV and Antiretroviral Therapy: Quality of Life Perspectives

“…MSM who have been rejected from their family are highly likely to have mental health issues, suicidal tendencies, depression, and highrisk sexual behavior (Katz-Wise et al, 2016;Ryan et al, 2010;Woodward & Pantalone, 2016;Bidaki et al, 2017). However, MSM who have strong social support seems to have fear of rejection into their family (Bilardi et al, 2019).…”

Developing HIV assisted partner notification services tailored to Mexican key populations: a qualitative approach

“…The main barrier for partner notification and serostatus disclosure was the fear of negative consequences associated with HIV-related stigma. A study in Australia similarly reported that, because of prevailing HIV stigma, most MSM were very selective about who they disclosed their status to, often only telling partners perceived at risk [ 35 ]. Nevertheless, since most participants in our study had experiences with informal partner notification despite stigma concerns, Mexican health care institutions could use this willingness to share an HIV diagnosis with partners and provide professional services that help avoid or mitigate stigma’s consequences.…”