'When it comes to HIV, that’s when you find out the genuinity of that love’: The experience of disclosing a HIV+ status to an intimate partner

Article

Smith, Charlotte, Cook, Rachel and Rohleder, P. 2017. 'When it comes to HIV, that’s when you find out the genuinity of that love’: The experience of disclosing a HIV+ status to an intimate partner. Journal of Health Psychology. 24 (8), pp. 1011-1022. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105317691588
AuthorsSmith, Charlotte, Cook, Rachel and Rohleder, P.
Abstract

Despite a medical discourse of the ‘normalisation’ of HIV, it remains a highly stigmatising condition, and makes the issue of disclosing one’s HIV status particularly complex. This paper reports on the experience of 18 people living with HIV in the UK of disclosing their HIV+ status in arguably their most important relationship, their intimate partnership. Five main themes arose: disclosure as the battlefield, preparing psychologically to disclose, disclosure as a test of the partner’s love, disclosure as an opportunity for the partner to know them more deeply, and the renegotiation of the relationship narrative.

JournalJournal of Health Psychology
Journal citation24 (8), pp. 1011-1022
ISSN1359-1053
1461-7277
Year2017
PublisherSAGE Publications
Accepted author manuscript
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105317691588
Web address (URL)https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105317691588
Publication dates
Print01 Jul 2019
Online09 Mar 2017
Publication process dates
Deposited13 Jan 2017
Accepted21 Dec 2016
Copyright informationSmith, et.al., 'When it comes to HIV, that’s when you find out the genuinity of that love’: The experience of disclosing a HIV+ status to an intimate partner’, Journal of Health Psychology. © 2017 The Authors. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.
Page range1011-1022
LicenseAll rights reserved
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