Do children know their parent's HIV status? Parental reports of child awareness in a nationally representative sample.

Full Abstract

OBJECTIVE:
To determine the rates and predictors of child awareness of parental human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status and the effect of that knowledge on children.

METHODS:
Interviews were conducted with 274 parents from a nationally representative sample of HIV-infected adults receiving health care for HIV. The outcome measures were parental report of child's awareness of parental HIV status, how others reacted to child's parent having HIV, and reasons for nondisclosure.

RESULTS:
HIV-infected parents reported that 44% of their children (5-17 years old) were aware of their parent's HIV status, and parents had discussed with 90% of those children the possibility that HIV or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) might lead to their parent's death. Multivariate analyses revealed that parents with higher income, with an HIV risk group of heterosexual intercourse, with higher CD4 counts, with greater social isolation, and with younger children were less likely than others to report that their child knew the parent was HIV positive. Parents reported that 11% of children worried they could catch HIV from their parent. Reasons children did not know their parent's HIV status included that the parent was worried about the emotional consequences of disclosure (67%), was worried the child would tell other people (36%), and did not know how to tell their child (28%).

CONCLUSIONS:
HIV-infected parents often worry about the emotional consequences of disclosure to their children and that their children may tell others. More than a quarter of parents reported not knowing how to tell their children. Clinicians may be able to support and guide HIV-infected parents in deciding whether, when, and how to disclose their infection to their children.

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Author information

Author/s: Corona, Rosalie (R); Beckett, Megan K (MK); Cowgill, Burton O (BO); Elliott, Marc N (MN); Murphy, Debra A (DA); Zhou, Annie J (AJ); Schuster, Mark A (MA);

Affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, USA. racorona(-atsign-)vcu.edu

Grants: R01 HD40103 (Agency:NICHD NIH HHS) ; T32HS00046 (Agency:AHRQ HHS) ; U-01HS08578 (Agency:AHRQ HHS) ; U48/CCU915773 (Agency:PHS HHS) ; U48/DP000056 (Agency:NCCDPHP CDC HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Ambulatory pediatrics : the official journal of the Ambulatory Pediatric Association (Ambul Pediatr), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2006 May-Jun; vol 6 (issue 3) : pp 138-44

Dates: Created 2006/05/22; Completed 2006/07/20; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 16713931, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adult
Child
Child of Impaired Parents - psychology
Emotions
Female
HIV Infections
Health Surveys

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