Factors Associated with Parents’ Decision to Disclose Their HIV Diagnosis to Their Children

Abstract

This chapter presents the factors associated with a parent’s decision to disclose his or her diagnosis to the children, and implications for clinical practice and future research. Parents and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected children were interviewed and were administered several standardized measures for collecting information on parental depression, family environment, and social support satisfaction. The use of both prospective and retrospective interviews, where parents are interviewed before and after disclosure, could provide essential information about the disclosure process. Since disclosure is a lifelong process where one comes to terms with one’s HIV status and its medical and social implications, research designs must allow for full exploration of a family’s experiences, fears, and concerns. Children who have been informed of their parents’ HIV status, especially those children who are then asked to keep the diagnosis a secret, must be monitored to assess for changes in their psychological functioning.