Young women born with HIV: communication of seropositivity to partners

Abstract

The objective was to understand the aspects involved in the communication of their own clinical condition to their partners by young women born with HIV. This is qualitative research, developed in a Specialized HIV Care Service in the southern region of Brazil with ten young people who were born with HIV, using the individual interview, from June 2017 to March 2018. An anchored psychosocial analysis was used within the Framework of Vulnerability and Human Rights. Two groups emerged: the first composed of young women who chose to communicate with their partners at the beginning of affective relationships; and the second, with the young women who postponed such communication. All of them experienced apprehensions and fears regarding the partner’s reaction, thought about or adopted some strategies for communication, and reported situations of lesser involvement in HIV prevention behaviors by couples/partners. Care practices that dialogue with young women about the unique difficulties in their intersubjective contexts, crossed by structural social issues, are essential in order to support them in communicating their HIV status to their partners in as soon as possible, in adopting preventive strategies, and in accessing resources that protect their and their partners’ sexual and reproductive health.