‘It’s a very grey, very messy area’: a qualitative examination of factors influencing undetectable gay men’s HIV status disclosure to sexual partners

Abstract

HIV disclosure to sexual partners remains a multifaceted yet stigmatised process. The ‘undetectable equals untransmittable’ (U = U) concept has raised ethical and moral concerns about the obligation and need to disclose, and using Internet applications to seek sex partners has modified disclosure practices. While previous qualitative literature has examined the HIV disclosure process, there is a dearth of information on this topic among gay men in the USA who have an undetectable viral load. Using thematic analysis of data collected during a period of expanded U = U knowledge, this study explores the cognitive, contextual, interpersonal and structural factors impacting undetectable gay men’s HIV status disclosure decisions to sexual partners. In-depth interviews were conducted in August 2020 over Zoom with 20 gay men with undetectable viral loads. The main themes included ‘sense of obligation,’ ‘situational disclosure’ and ‘partners’ responsibility in the disclosure process.’ Participants balanced the aforementioned factors to inform their disclosure decisions, and disclosure patterns varied across participants dependent upon thoughts regarding ethics and morality of (non-)disclosure. The findings provide new insights to how participants navigate disclosure while considering U = U, HIV criminalisation laws, and finding partners through Internet applications while providing direction for future studies and support for decriminalising HIV and expanding HIV education.

Keywords:

• HIV
• disclosure
• undetectable
• stigma
• U = U

Acknowledgements

Thanks go to study participants for their vulnerability and insight into a deeply personal process. Thank you too to Bria Jarrell and Andrew Tarbox for double-coding transcripts.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

This paper derives from a Master’s degree thesis by the first author.