Literature Review: Psychosocial Effects of HIV Status Disclosure in UK

This report is a literature review that examines the psychosocial effects of HIV status disclosure to family members and partners. The assignment focuses on the impact of HIV/AIDS, a global pandemic, not only on physical health but also on mental and emotional well-being. The aim is to analyze the psychosocial impact on both the family and the partner upon disclosure, with objectives including analyzing the impact on each. The rationale highlights the gap in UK-specific research on this topic, emphasizing the need to develop strategies to support family members. The search strategy involved databases like CINAHL Plus, Sage Journal, and PubMed, using keywords such as "HIV/AIDS," "Psychological impact," and "family." Inclusion criteria included papers from 2013-2017 conducted in the UK, while exclusion criteria involved papers in other languages prior to 2013. The review synthesizes key messages, including the psychological turmoil among family members, the impact on partners, the importance of disclosure, and the economic and social concerns associated with the disease. Five chosen studies are listed, followed by a reference list of relevant sources. The review underscores the importance of understanding and addressing both the psychosocial and biomedical aspects of HIV testing and disclosure.

Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature Review
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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LITERATURE REVIEW
Project topic-Synopsis
Name
Working project title:
Integrating Literature Review
To explore the psychosocial effects of HIV status disclosure to family and partner
Project aims and objectives of the research topic/question:
Aim: The aim of the assignment is to analyze the Psychosocial effects of HIV status disclosure
of an adult to family and partner
Objectives?
To analyze the psychosocial impact elicited upon the family on discovering the news
To analyze the psychosocial impact on the partner upon the disclosure of news
Topic choice rationale?
HIV/AIDS has emerged out to be a global pandemic that not only disrupts the physical health
well-being but also affects the social security and the mental and emotional health (Adams et al.
2016). The disease condition not only affects the standard of life of the patient alone but also
affects the family and the dear ones living in close association with the patient. The rationale for
the study broadly focuses on assessing the psychosocial impact of HIV/AIDS on the immediate

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LITERATURE REVIEW
family members and the close ones. It should be noted here that a number of research studies
have focused on the health promotion campaigns to spread awareness about the disease and
reduce the severity of the symptoms internationally (Roy et al. 2015); (Gobind and Ukpere 2014).
However, the psychosocial impact associated with the dearth of the disease on the immediate
family members has not been studied in detail in context to UK. The thorough analysis of the
findings would help in developing strategies to equip the family members to cope with the drastic
effect of the disease.
Detailed Search strategy:
Search of year 2013 to date 2018 October
In order to conduct a Integrating Literature Review, a thorough research was conducted across
the popular scientific databases. The relevant papers were retrieved based on stringent inclusion
and exclusion criteria. The papers were then analysed on the basis of thematic analysis.
List of where data was sourced?
 CINAHL Plus
 Sage Journal
 Science Direct

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LITERATURE REVIEW
 PubMed
 Books
Search terms and key words?
HIV/AIDS, Psychological impact, partner, family, emotional impact, psychosocial impact.
Inclusion/exclusion criteria?
The inclusion criteria included the papers that were published in between the time frame of 2013-
2017 and the papers that were published in English. The inclusion criteria also included
researches that were conducted in UK. The exclusion criteria included papers published in other
languages prior to 2013.
Key messages related to the topic
HIV/AIDS elicits psychological turmoil among the immediate family members of the affected
patient. Depression accounts for the major mental health disorder that affects the partners of the
patients (Curran et al. 2016).
Dorrell and Katz (2013) stated that adults abstaining from cooperating about the status of HIV
often acts as a model to future disclosure. Greater consciousness is essential for the prominence
that specialists interconnect directly with young persons, who may want sustenance to facilitate
communiqué with their relations and peers.
There is mounting evidence for the fact that the interventions targeting HIV should be planned
and assessed such that they are able to address both the psychosocial and biomedical features
of HIV testing. Disclosure should involve the connotation of positive test outcomes, the sexual
elimination of positive males, and HIV‐related humiliation (Flowers, Knussen, Li and McDaid

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2013).
Prolong illness, lack of coping strategies and future family planning are some areas of major
insecurity prevailing among the immediate partners (States of Mind: Improving mental wellbeing
in the HIV community 2013).
Male often strive to involve in strategic and relationally personalized revelation work that is
usually influenced by a sense of complementary self-protection (the evasion of disgrace and the
suffering associated with refusal) with compulsion to others (Flowers and Davis 2013).
Economic expenditure associated with the disease burden and social discrimination also forms a
major area of concern among people belonging to the middle-class economic group (Adams et
al. 2016); (Adams et al. 2016)
Chosen five studies conducted in the U.K in relation to chosen topic (psychosocial effects
of HIV status disclosure to family and partner)
https://sti.bmj.com/content/89/2/120.full?g=widget_default
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1359105312454037
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S105532901300037X
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-1293.2012.01041.x
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17450128.2013.774453
Developing Reference List
Adams, C., Zacharia, S., Masters, L., Coffey, C. and Catalan, P., 2016. Mental health problems in people living with
HIV: changes in the last two decades: the London experience 1990–2014. AIDS care, 28(sup1), pp.56-59.

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LITERATURE REVIEW
Curran, K., Ngure, K., Shell-Duncan, B., Vusha, S., Mugo, N.R., Heffron, R., Celum, C. and Baeten, J.M., 2014. If I
am given antiretrovirals I will think I am nearing the grave': Kenyan HIV serodiscordant couples' attitudes regarding
early initiation of antiretroviral therapy. AIDS (London, England), 28(2), p.227.
Dorrell, J. and Katz, J., 2013. “I knew I had something bad because no-one spoke about it”–disclosure discovery:
Experiences of young people with perinatally acquired HIV in the UK. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 8(4),
pp.353-361.
Flowers, P. and Davis, M. D., 2013. Understanding the biopsychosocial aspects of HIV disclosure among HIV-
positive gay men in Scotland. Journal of health psychology, 18(5), pp.711-724.
Flowers, P., Knussen, C., Li, J. and McDaid, L., 2013. Has testing been normalized? An analysis of changes in
barriers to HIV testing among men who have sex with men between 2000 and 2010 in Scotland, UK. HIV
medicine, 14(2), pp.92-98.
Gobind, J., and Ukpere, W. I. 2014. The Use of Posters in Disseminating HIV/AIDS Awareness Information within
Higher Education Institutions. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 5(20), 739.
Roy, P.K., Saha, S. and Al Basir, F., 2015. Effect of awareness programs in controlling the disease HIV/AIDS: an
optimal control theoretic approach. Advances in Difference Equations, 2015(1), p.217.
States of Mind: Improving mental wellbeing in the HIV community. 2013. [ebook] Positively UK. Available at:
http://positivelyuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/States-of-Mind-report-2013.pdf [Accessed 11 Nov. 2018].
Sullivan, A.K., Savage, E.J., Lowndes, C.M., Paul, G., Murphy, G., Carne, S., Back, D.J. and Gill, O.N., 2013. Non-
disclosure of HIV status in UK sexual health clinics—a pilot study to identify non-disclosure within a national unlinked
anonymous seroprevalence survey. Sex Transm Infect, pp.sextrans-2012.
Treisman, K., Jones, F.W. and Shaw, E., 2014. The experiences and coping strategies of United Kingdom-based
African women following an HIV diagnosis during pregnancy. Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS
Care, 25(2), pp.145-157.