Helping HIV-positive persons to negotiate the disclosure process to partners, family members, and friends.

For people who have been diagnosed with a chronic illness, one inevitable issue to be addressed is whether and how to share this information with others. For persons who are HIV positive, disclosure presents an especially arduous task. The purpose of this article is to offer a strategy to assist marriage and family therapists in facilitating client disclosure of an HIV-positive status to partners, family members, and friends. In addition, suggestions for setting the stage for disclosure to occur and recommendations for client follow-up are proposed.