Sero-skeptics: discussions between test counselors and their clients about sexual partner HIV status disclosure.
Despite the current emphasis in the US on HIV testing and serostatus disclosure as HIV-prevention strategies, little is known about men who have sex with men's (MSM) perceptions of serostatus disclosure by sexual partners. This study used conversation analysis to examine recordings of HIV-test counseling sessions in order to understand how counselors and clients conceptualize and discuss sex partners' disclosure of HIV status. Of 50 test sessions audio-recorded in four publicly funded sites in Northern California, 47 sessions included a discussion about sexual partners' serostatus disclosure, in the vast majority of these (91.5%), counselors and clients avoided directly asserting their knowledge of partners' serostatus. Throughout the discussions, counselors and clients co-constructed the sense of distrust, uncertainty and unknowability of partners' serostatus. The implications of our findings for evaluating the effectiveness of HIV status disclosure as a prevention strategy are discussed.
Sheon
Nicolas
N
Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California, San Francisco, USA. nicolas.sheon@ucsf.edu
Lee
Seung-Hee
SH
D015492:AIDS Serodiagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D002140:California; D003376:Counseling; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006304:Health Status; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012307:Risk Factors; D012747:Sexual Partners; D014342:Truth Disclosure