Posso te contar um segredo? O processo de revelação do HIV para parceiros afetivossexuais e filhos

Abstract

With the improvement of access to new technologies of prevention and healthcare, people living with HIV (PLWHIV) no longer worry only about illness and death, wishing to live affective and sexually. Therefore, they began to experience dilemmas regarding the decision to disclose or not their serostatus, especially to their sexual partners and children. Studies show that family support facilitates treatment adherence, however in a context marked by stigma, the serostatus disclosure demands an important decision process. This dissertation aimed to discuss the disclosure phenomenon, from this new and current scenario. The Paper 1 – “If I don’t Tell, how Can I Have Intimacy? A Multiple-Case Study About the HIV Disclosure Process to Sexual Partners” sought to understand how the process of HIV disclosure occurs and the impact of it in the affective and sexual relations. A multiple-case study was performed, with three couples who answered Semi-Structured Interviews, Relationship Timeline and Sociodemographic Questionnaire. The results indicate that the history of Aids, from the 80s’, is still present in the narratives and that PLWHIV understand the serology disclosure as a key element to reach intimacy and conjugality. The Paper 2 – “My Name is HIV: Life Histories, Self-Concept and HIV Disclosure to Children” aimed to comprise how the diagnose reflected in the family and personal life-history, the constitution of self-concept and the repercussion on desire/process of disclosure to children. A single case study was performed using semi-structured interviews, sociodemographic questionnaire and family genogram. The results showed that life-stories and the conceptions about HIV seem to interfere on self-concept and, consequently in the way the person experiences the intention of disclosure to children. The presence of HIV was characterized as a marker of difference and exclusion, requiring more attention of health professionals to stigmas that are still associated with PWLHIV.