The parent disclosure interview

Abstract

As the number of HIV-infected women and children in the USA has increased, clinicians and researchers have debated the benefits and risks of disclosure of parental HIV status to children. Disclosure is usually ascertained through interviews of unknown reliability. Given the need to advance knowledge regarding the benefits and risks of disclosure of parental HIV status to children, a reliable and comprehensive disclosure interview is needed. The Parent Disclosure Interview (PDI) was developed for this purpose. In order to study its reliability, 29 HIV-infected mothers were administered the PDI twice, on average one week apart, by two different female interviewers. Kappa statistics indicate that the PDI is highly reliable in most content areas. Researchers may use the interview for comparing the prevalence of disclosure among different groups of HIV-infected parents. Practitioners who assist parents in making decisions about disclosure of HIV status to children may use the interview to obtain a baseline assessment of the clients' disclosure history and attitudes towards disclosure.