Disclosure of their status to youth with human immunodeficiency virus infection in the Dominican Republic: a mixed-methods study.

ABSTRACT: A mixed-methods study was conducted to determine the proportion of HIV-infected children who knew their status, identify characteristics associated with children's knowledge of their status, and describe caregivers' and adolescents' experiences relevant to disclosure in the Dominican Republic (DR). Of 327 patients aged 6-18 years treated in the principal DR pediatric HIV facilities, 74 (22.6 %) knew their status. Patients aged 13 years or older and/or who had participated in non-clinical activities for HIV-infected children were more likely to know their status. Caregivers who had disclosed cited healthcare providers' advice, children's desire to know and concerns that children might initiate sexual activity before knowing or discover their status by accidental or malicious disclosure. Non

SUBMITTER: Beck-Sague C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4344397 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature