Sero-silence and sero-sharing: managing HIV in serodiscordant heterosexual relationships.
Research shows that couples with differing HIV status can face a number of social, sexual and relationship challenges. Communication is often emphasised as the key to couples' ability to cope with these challenges. Silence by implication becomes positioned as inherently negative, even dysfunctional. The privileging of communication as proper therapeutic adjustment to illness forecloses consideration of the complexities of managing HIV as a serodiscordant couple, let alone any enabling aspects of silence. Drawing on qualitative research interviews with HIV-serodiscordant couples in Australia, this article examines the usefulness of this polarisation between communication and silence and explores alternative ways of understanding silence that might offer useful tools for HIV health workers and researchers.
Persson
A
A
National Centre in HIV Social Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. a.persson@unsw.edu.au
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000523:psychology*; D020010:Heterosexuality / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009517:New South Wales; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012747:Sexual Partners / Q000523:psychology