The Prevalent Causes of Non- Disclosure of HIV Status And Their Effect on Tema Municipality

RESEARCHERS Nelson Doe Dzivor STELLA AKUA TAWIAH

OUTLINE OF THE PRESENTATION INTRODUCTION OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY METHODOLOGY DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF RESULT INFERENTIAL ANALYSIS OF THE RESULT CONCLUSION RECOMMENDATION

INTRODUCTION As in many other countries worldwide, HIV/AIDS is a threat to Ghana’s development For PLHIV, the decision to tell someone about their condition means weighing enormous potential consequences, both positive and negative (Derlega, Lovejoy, & Winstead, 1998) HIV/AIDS-related stigmatization remains a potent stressor. Despite the negative consequence of disclosure, HIV/AIDS disclosure can help people protect themselves and others (Anyan, 2013).

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The study seeks to; Investigate the reasons for non-disclosure of HIV positive status Investigate the gender disclosure rate Investigate the outcomes of disclosure Investigate the outcomes of non-disclosure.

METHODOLOGY This study employs mixture of quantitative and qualitative design. Data for analysis is primary data obtained by the help of structured questionnaires. The researchers sampled from population of HIV/AIDS patients from Tema municipal, specifically, Tema General Hospital. The sample size was statistically determined to be 300 patients.

METHODOLOGY Continue … Due to unavailability of sampling frame, the researchers considered a non-probabilistic sampling approach (a convenience sampling technique). The data collected were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The association between independent variables and the dependent variables was ascertained using Binary Logistic Regression analysis.

DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS - Demographics

DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS - Demographics

DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS – Demographics continue … MARITAL STATUS Percent Never married 30.0 Married 40.0 Divorced .7 widow/Widower 17.0 Seriously in a relationship 7.0 Separated 5.3

DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS – Demographics continue … LENGTH OF CURRENT RELATIONSHIP FREQ Percent More than 5 years 32 22.7 Exactly 5 years or less than 109 77.3 TOTAL 141 100

DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS – Management

DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS – Disclosure

DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS – Disclosure

DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS – Outcome of Disclosure The study also reveals That 95.2% of those who disclosed their status received emotional support from their partners while 4.8% do not; That 88.5% of them still have normal relationships with their partners while 11.5% do not. Also, 39.7% of them have their sexual lives healthier and 13% of them have their partners helping them to adhere to medication.

DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS – Reasons of Non-Disclosure Fear of being labeled bad people 86.7% of the reasons

DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS – Reasons of Non-Disclosure Fear of Physical Abuse 77.3% of the reasons

DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS – Reasons of Non-Disclosure Fear of breach of confidentiality 58.7 % of the reasons

DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS – Reasons of Non-Disclosure Fear of accusation of infidelity 14.7 % of the reasons

DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS – Reasons of Non-Disclosure fear of partners’ rejection 6.7 % of the reasons

DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS – Outcome of Non-Disclosure We also sought to know how the non-disclosures react to their non-disclosure status. 93.3% of non-disclosures are having normal lives, 6.7% of them feel burdened for not disclosing their current status.

INFERENTIAL ANALYSIS Predictor variables B p-value ODD RATIO Gender(Male) 1.307 .000 3.695 Education(Ever) -1.640 .194 Use of condom during sex (Yes) -1.847 .158 Constant .205 .536 1.228

INFERENTIAL ANALYSIS It is proven from the above table that: Males are about 4 times likely not to disclose their status than females. A person who had never had any form of formal education is 5 times (1/0.194) likely not to disclose his or her status than, a person who had had any form of formal education. A patient who does not use condom during sex are 6.33 (1/0.158) times likely to non-disclose their status compared to those who use condom during sex

CONCLUSION The study reveals that a significant proportion of the patients in the community have not disclosed their status to anybody for various fear reasons. Though there are more females living with HIV status, males have higher non-disclosure rate. However, educational status and use of contraceptive during sex have negative influence on non-disclosure rate. Also, the majority of non-disclosures are living normal life.

RECOMMENDATION Despite the encouraging results of disclosure, it was realized that a great proportion of patients delayed in their disclosure. We recommend that measures should be taken PLHIV to disclose their status immediately to partners to avoid risk of transmission. We also recommend that HIV/AIDS related education should be intensified to deal with fear and stigmatization in order to achieve zero non-disclosure rate. This study should be replicated on the national scale with statistically representative sample. The Government should encourage and resource the existing health institutions to expand voluntary counselling and testing for HIV. Agencies providing AIDS education programmes should put emphasis on developing life skills and counselling to enable a change of attitudes and to avoid HIV/AIDS.

THE END OF THE PRESENTATION THANK YOU