Altruism reasons for disclosure, partner relationship quality, and impacts of HIV disclosure

Background: Existing studies on HIV disclosure focus on reasons for disclosure from self-interest perspective. However, some HIV patients decide to disclose their HIV status for others’ health or well-being. Our study aims to examine the relationship between altruism reasons for disclosure, relationship quality and impacts of HIV partner disclosure.

Method: A total of 2,987 PLH was recruited from 12 cities/counties in Guangxi, China to participate in a self-administered cross-sectional survey. Participants who had disclosed their HIV status to stable sexual partners (n=986) were further asked about questions related to HIV disclosure. We categorized this sample as three groups (low, medium, and high) based on their scores of relationship quality with stable partners. Descriptive analysis was used to demonstrate the level of agreement with altruism reasons. One-way ANOVA and multivariate regressions were used to explore association between variables of interests.

Results: The level of agreement with altruism reasons was higher in the group of higher relationship quality (F_{(986 2)}=33.29, p<.001). Participants who expressed higher level of agreement with altruism reasons for disclosure were more likely to perceive positive consequence of disclosure (B =.728, 95%CI [.697, .759, p<.001), report positive impacts of disclosure (B =.335, 95%CI [.235, .434], p<.001), and report not regretting about disclosing to partners (OR =1.752, 95%CI [1.136, 2.702], p=.011).

Discussion: Our findings suggest altruism reasons for disclosure were associated with better relationship quality and positive impacts of partner HIV disclosure. Future HIV disclosure intervention may take efforts to improve partner relationship quality and promote altruism perceptions on disclosure.