Perceived Family Member Reaction to Women's Disclosure of HIV-Positive Information

Julianne M. Serovich,*, Judy A. Kimberly, and Kathryn Greene Disclosing one's HIV status to family members is a difficult process, particularly if the anticipated reaction of the recipient is negative. The purpose of this study was to expand the understanding of reactions experienced by women who disclosed their HIV-positive status to family members. One hundred and seventy-three reactions were extracted from 97 disclosive episodes during ethnographic interviews with 13 adult HIV-positive women. Using constant comparison methods, reactions were placed in 31 typologies and 6 categories. Each of these categories are described and implications for therapists and future researchers are discussed. Key Words: disclosure, family, HIV-positive women, reactions. Researchers have documented that people tend to disclose information when they feel distressed and may obtain some benefit(s) by doing so (Derlega, Metts, Petronio, Greenberg Pennebaker Stiles, 1987). Individuals with HIV who disclose diseaserelated information visit physicians less frequently, demonstrate normal immune functioning, and exhibit autonomic nervous system regularities to greater degrees than their nondisclosing counterparts (Pennebaker, Colder, Yep, 1993). Kimberly and colleagues' (1995) theory of disclosure of HIV information was developed from interviews with HIV-positive women, and the theory consists of six steps women might experience as they navigate the disclosure process. The steps include: (1) adjusting to the diagnosis, (2) evaluating personal disclosure skills, (3) taking inventory of whom to tell, (4) evaluating potential recipients' circumstances, (5) anticipating reactions of the recipient, and (6) having a motivation for disclosing. According to this model, events could transpire at each stage of the disclosure process which would inhibit disclosure. For example, an important factor in the disclosure process for these women was anticipating the reaction of the potential recipient of this information. Before disclosure occurred, women reported attempting to anticipate how the potential recipient would respond to her HIV-positive status. Anticipated reactions took three forms: supportive, hostile, and ambivalent. This process of anticipating reactions was important because women who felt that the potential recipient would react negatively or ambivalently did not disclose diagnosis information, whereas women who anticipated that individuals would be understanding did disclose this information. Although anticipated reactions may be barriers to disclosure, actual reactions of family members were of interest in this study. Background There have been few studies examining the reactions of family members to an HIV-positive diagnosis. Two studies have been identified. In their study of HIV-positive women, Simoni, et al. (1995), directed participants to place the reactions of family members into one of three categories: (1) provided emotional support, (2) became angry, or (3) withdrew from you. These women reported mothers, fathers, and friends reacted by providing emotional support and rarely responded by becoming angry or withdrawing. Interestingly, lovers reacted with emotional support in most cases, however, they were also the most likely to become angry or withdraw. In their study of men with HIV/AIDS, Mansergh, Marks, and Simoni (1995) used the same three categories of reactions and found that their results mirrored those of the Simoni et al. …