Perspectives of HIV-positive and -negative people who use drugs regarding the criminalization of HIV non-disclosure in Canada: a qualitative study
department or school: Medicine, Faculty of
department or school: Other UBC
department or school: Non UBC
department or school: Medicine, Department of
data provider: DSpace
identifier citation: BMC Public Health. 2020 Aug 10;20(1):1220
contributor: British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS
contributor: British Columbia Centre on Substance Use
rights copyright: The Author(s).
creator: Ng, Cara
creator: Chayama, Koharu L.
creator: Krüsi, Andrea
creator: Small, Will
creator: Knight, Rod E.
issued: 2020-08-11T17:27:44Z
issued: 2020-08-10
description: Background: While previous research has identified how criminalization of HIV non-disclosure can have deleterious effects on those living with HIV, the perspectives of people who use drugs – a population disproportionately affected by HIV– should be more meaningfully considered in these discussions. Methods: Using constant comparative techniques, data from 60 interviews with men and women living with and without HIV and who use drugs in Vancouver were analyzed to explore their perceptions about Canada’s HIV non-disclosure legal framework. Results: Participants’ perspectives on the framework involved three themes: understandings of HIV risk; HIV-related stigma; and their own experiences with HIV. While several participants favored the punitive character of the legal framework, these arguments were premised on misinformed and stigmatized assumptions regarding HIV. Conclusions: The paper concludes by discussing the challenges and opportunities for resisting HIV stigma and misconceptions about HIV within the context of personal accounts that, at times, support criminalization of non-disclosure.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/75420
note: RESEARCH ARTICLE Open AccessPerspectives of HIV-positive and -negativepeople who use drugs regarding thecriminalization of HIV non-disclosure inCanada: a qualitative studyCara Ng1, Koharu Loulou Chayama1,2, Andrea Krüsi2,3, Will Small1,4 and Rod Knight1,2*AbstractBackground: While previous research has identified how criminalization of HIV non-disclosure can have deleteriouseffects on those living with HIV, the perspectives of people who use drugs – a population disproportionatelyaffected by HIV– should be more meaningfully considered in these discussions.Methods: Using constant comparative techniques, data from 60 interviews with men and women living with andwithout HIV and who use drugs in Vancouver were analyzed to explore their perceptions about Canada’s HIV non-disclosure legal framework.Results: Participants’ perspectives on the framework involved three themes: understandings of HIV risk; HIV-relatedstigma; and their own experiences with HIV. While several participants favored the punitive character of the legalframework, these arguments were premised on misinformed and stigmatized assumptions regarding HIV.Conclusions: The paper concludes by discussing the challenges and opportunities for resisting HIV stigma andmisconceptions about HIV within the context of personal accounts that, at times, support criminalization of non-disclosure.Keywords: People who use drugs, Criminalization, HIV, Non-disclosure, StigmaBackgroundWithin and across many global settings, the non-disclosureof human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) during sexualencounters remains a criminalized act. Specifically, 68countries in the world, including Canada, criminalize the“non-disclosure, exposure or transmission” of HIV, while33 other countries have applied different criminal provi-sions in similar instances [1]. In 2017, Canada ranked ashaving the third largest number of recorded prosecutionsfor alleged HIV non-disclosure globally [1–4]. Within theCanadian legal framework, HIV non-disclosure c…
has type: Article
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0392693
language: eng
peer review status: Reviewed
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: BioMed Central
publisher DOI: 10.1186/s12889-020-09291-3
rights: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
scholar level: Faculty
subject: People who use drugs
subject: Criminalization
subject: HIV
subject: Non-disclosure
subject: Stigma
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/75420