| Partner Notification: General Perceptions |
| Stable Partners |
“There is a greater responsibility when you live with someone or you have a longer time together in your sexual relations… with a stable partner there’s more responsibility to communicate with them about what’s going on.” (Enrique; Gay, Syphilis) |
| Casual Partners |
“I think that it’s important to tell your partner. Because in that way, he is informed and can take the necessary steps…. I’m referring to a main partner, because a casual, you see them one time and then you never see them again.” (Julian; Gay, Proctitis) |
| Anonymous Partners |
“I would never tell them, simply because they are “hit and runs” [choque y fugas], and I will never see them again.” (Elian; Heterosexual, Urethritis/GUD) |
| “I was with him in the movie theater [cine]. So with him, I don’t think I will see him again, so I don’t think I will tell him.” (Alejandro; Heterosexual, Proctitis) |
| Commercial Partners |
“If a guy finds out that you infected him, one of your clients, then you are already done for [ya fuiste] and he is going to come looking for you, because you burned him [lo has quemado].” (Cristina; Transgender, HIV) |
| Female Partners |
“Because it’s more difficult to tell a partner, in this case bisexual, that I was with a man, than to tell a man I was with a woman.” (Jose; Bisexual, HIV/Syphilis) |
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“For the fear that they are going to say to you, ‘What are you doing with men?’” (Carlos; Heterosexual, HIV) |
| Incentives to Notification |
| Protect Self |
“So that he can get tested and see if he’s okay. That way we can both know that we’re well, we’re healthy. Because, apparently, someone can look healthy and you don’t know how they are really.” (Javier; Gay, Urethritis) |
| Protect Partner |
“It’s a question of mutual care and, if I love him, I have to care for him like I believe he would do with me.” (Jose; Bisexual, HIV/Syphilis) |
| Maintain Trust |
“It’s more important to talk with your partner, so that they trust you. We all make mistakes, and if you tell them in time they may understand.” (Ivan; Bisexual, Urethritis) |
| “With a main partner, you share things, you achieve a level of trust—in quotations, ‘trust’—a level of ‘trust’ so maybe you can tell them.” (Aldo; Heterosexual, Urethritis) |
| Barriers to Notification |
| Fear of Rejection |
“For me, it’s important to tell my partner, my true partner, but it makes me a little afraid of rejection. Because of that ‘Where did it come from?’ It came from being with other partners, and she is going to think the worst, she is going to throw me out.” (David; Heterosexual, HIV) |
| “It’s a fear, fear of losing that contact, their friendship, or whatever. It’s a fear.” (Aldo; Heterosexual, Urethritis) |
| Fear of Violence |
“I don’t know him well, and I am a little afraid to tell him. Because I see him around, he works in the street, he has a group that’s, let’s say, very “rough” [movido]. That scares me, that maybe he will react with violence.” (Miguel; Gay, HIV) |
| “My fear is always that, ‘How can I say I have HIV? How are you going to react? Will you grab me and punch me, or hit me, or will you cut me off? What will you do, what will be your reaction?” (Cristina; Transgender, HIV) |
| Fear of Stigma |
“That he would reject me… or that he would say when he sees me, ‘That faggot [maricon] is like that,’ that he would say to me that I’m a disease carrier, or that he would say it to someone else.” (Scarlet; Transgender, HIV) |
| “Because there is no one trustworthy and I can’t confide in anyone other than my family. And I know that sometimes there are these little arguments, resentments, I tell someone and we fight, and so he tells another person, and another, and another, so then the whole world finds out.” (Princesa; Transgender, HIV) |
| Lack of Contact Information |
“I’m not going to tell him because it’s unlikely that I will see him again. Or maybe I will see him, but most likely, I won’t.” (Oscar; Gay, Syphilis) |
| “I don’t know where to find them. It was, as they say, a casual relationship, I met them on the street, on some avenue.” (Enrique; Gay, Syphilis) |
| Loss of Income |
“Because, really, you need to work. At the moment you tell them, they are going to reject you and won’t ever want to come near you.” (Scarlet; Transgender, HIV) |
