Experiences of sharing HIV status openly
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the experience of people living with HIV who have shared their status openly
IRAS ID
280289
Contact name
Saskia Naylor
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Doctorate in Clinical Psychology
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 1 months, 31 days
Research summary
HIV is a stigmatised condition and people often find it difficult to share their status due to fears of negative responses from others. Evidence has shown that sharing your HIV+ status can be helpful for social support, medication adherence and onward HIV transmission, however some evidence shows extensive sharing might not be helpful.
This project aims to understand the experiences of individuals who are open about their status. Open about their status is operationalised as their GP, most of their family and friends and their last three sexual partners since diagnosis being told or knowing. It aims to understand emotional reactions at diagnosis, reasons why individuals share status, whether recent findings of undetectable viral load levels meaning HIV cannot be transmitted (The Lancet HIV, 2017) impact the decision to, and experiences of, sharing. Also, perceptions of how others responded to HIV sharing will be explored. This may provide insights into how HIV stigma can be reduced.
Interviews will be conducted with eight individuals who are living with HIV and are open about their status. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) will be used to analyse the data to examine and describe the link between adjustment or acceptance of HIV and sharing their status.
REC name
London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/LO/0698
Date of REC Opinion
14 Jul 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion