Developing a method to assess the specificity of HIV disclosure plans

One challenge for people living with HIV is deciding when, where and how to share their HIV status (onward HIV disclosure). HIV status-sharing can result in individual (e.g., social support, medication adherence), and public health (e.g., reduced onward HIV transmission) benefits. We developed a coding scheme based on participants' free responses to assess the ability of young adults with perinatally acquired HIV to make a specific HIV disclosure plan. A total of 117 participants, mean age 22.8 years (78 female), from the UK and Uganda were asked how they would share their HIV status. Responses were coded for specificity, and the reliability and validity of the coding scheme were assessed. High levels of inter-rater reliability were achieved. Regarding validity, disclosure plans became more specific for participants who had participated in a disclosure intervention but not for those in a standard of care condition. There were no associations between disclosure planning specificity and other disclosure variables. The coding scheme suggests a way that onward disclosure planning could be assessed more comprehensively in research and practice.