Relationship of subjective HIV attributions, coping styles and disclosure among people living with HIV/AIDS: a case study of Wamata self-help group in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

The relationships among subjective HIV attributions, coping styles and disclosure of HIV-test results were studied among WAMATA HIV-positive members in Dar-es- Salaam, Tanzania. Seventy-two participants (76% females and 24% males) voluntarily responded to a structured questionnaire. Participants’ overall mean age and mean time since first-HIV-diagnosis were 36.7 ± 7.8 years and 2.6 ± 2.3 years respectively. Mean values of items measuring similar concepts were computed for easy comparison. External attributions, disclosure to close relatives and problem-focused coping style dominated among the participants. Self-blame attribution associated with emotion- focused/religiosity coping style in the overall analysis. Gender-specific analysis showed a positive correlation between self-blame and emotion-focused/religiosity coping among females but not among males. Although external blame correlated positively with disclosure to the public in the overall analysis, gender-specific analysis showed a negative correlation between external attribution and disclosure to close relatives among males. External blame was independent to disclosure to close relatives and disclosure to distant relatives. Problem-focused coping associated negatively with disclosure to the public. In conclusion, not all the subjective HIV attributions significantly correlated with the coping styles and disclosure variables. The observed correlation among some variables calls for clinical interventions because they indicated signs of maladaptive coping behaviours among the participants. Theoretical implications and recommendations for clinicians, counselors and further researches are proposed.