Disclosing HIV status information to friends, family, and significant others can play a pivotal role in improving mental health outcomes for women. In fact, it has long been established that those who share health-related information with others experience fewer emotional difficulties than those who do not. Disclosure of sensitive information like HIV, however, has also been shown to be potentially harmful under certain conditions, such as when women fear reprisal. The central hypothesis of this proposal is that women who disclose their status to supportive family, friends, and significant others are more likely to have higher emotional well-being and requisite social support than those who do not. We plan to test the hypothesis by pursing the following three specific aims: (1) measure disclosure, indices of mental health, and social support of HIV-positive women at defined intervals post diagnosis; (2) test and refine a recently developed theoretical model that will accurately predict the relationship between disclosure, social support, and mental health; (3) identify aspects of the relationship between family, friend, and partners and HI V-positive women which would contribute to supportive post disclosure reactions. Participants for this project will be 100 HIV-positive women residing in or near Columbus, Ohio. Participants will be recruited from The Ohio State University HIV/AIDS Clinical Research Unit (ACTU), Family AIDS Clinic and Educational Services (FACES) and the Columbus AIDS Task Force (CATF). Participants will be requested to complete data collection instruments every 6 months for three years. Data include: consequences of disclosure (negative and positive), social support (friends and family), and indices of mental health (depression, loneliness, self-esteem, anxiety, coping, stress, medical adherence and alcohol and substance use) along with basic demographic information. The information gathered in this study can be utilized to assist women with their long term coping with HIV. Findings can be used to develop intervention programs specifically for HIV-positive women to help them with disclosure issues, modify existing intervention programs for women to assist them with their disclosure concerns, and educate therapists, nurses, physicians and other professionals who assist HIV-positive women with their mental health needs about disclosure.
| Brown, Monique J; Serovich, Julianne M; Kimberly, Judy A et al. (2016) Psychological reactance and HIV-related stigma among women living with HIV. AIDS Care 28:745-9 |
| Serovich, Julianne Maria; Craft, Shonda M; Reed, Sandra J (2012) Women's HIV disclosure to family and friends. AIDS Patient Care STDS 26:241-9 |
| Delaney, Robin Ostrom; Serovich, Julianne M; Lim, Ji-Young (2009) Psychological differences between HIV-positive mothers who disclose to all, some, or none of their biological children. J Marital Fam Ther 35:175-80 |
| Delaney, R Ostrom; Serovich, J M; Lim, J-Y (2008) Reasons for and against maternal HIV disclosure to children and perceived child reaction. AIDS Care 20:876-80 |
| Serovich, Julianne M; Lim, Ji-Young; Mason, Tina L (2008) A retest of two HIV disclosure theories: the women's story. Health Soc Work 33:23-31 |
| Serovich, Julianne M; McDowell, Tiffany L; Grafsky, Erika L (2008) Women's report of regret of HIV disclosure to family, friends and sex partners. AIDS Behav 12:227-31 |
| McDowell, T L; Serovich, J M (2007) The effect of perceived and actual social support on the mental health of HIV-positive persons. AIDS Care 19:1223-9 |
| Craft, S M; Serovich, J M (2007) The impact of mental health, sexual desire and sexual importance on the sexual behaviour of women with HIV. AIDS Care 19:1219-22 |
| Serovich, Julianne M; Craft, Shonda M; Yoon, Hae-Jin (2007) Women's HIV disclosure to immediate family. AIDS Patient Care STDS 21:970-80 |
| Craft, Shonda M; Delaney, Robin O; Bautista, Dianne T et al. (2007) Pregnancy decisions among women with HIV. AIDS Behav 11:927-35 |
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