The social sharing of emotions in HIV/AIDS: A comparative study of HIV/AIDS, diabetic and cancer patients

Nicole Cantisano (1) , Bernard Rimé (2) , María Muñoz-Sastre (1)

1 CERPPS - Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches en Psychopathologie et Psychologie de la Santé
2 UCL - Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain

Studies have shown that chronic illness patients encounter difficulties in the Social Sharing of Emotions (SSE). Do HIV/AIDS patients present distinguishing traits in the inhibition of illness and non-illness related emotions? The differences in the SSE between 35 HIV/AIDS, 35 diabetes and 34 cancer outpatients were studied. A questionnaire assessed illness-related emotions, SSE and emotional inhibition. The HIV/AIDS group significantly presented: superior scoring in shame, guilt and non-sharing of illness-related emotions, lower frequencies of SSE and less sharing partners. These findings could lead to future research examining the emotional expression of guilt and shame in HIV/AIDS.

Mots clés: CANCER; HIV; AIDS; STIGMATIZATION; SOCIAL SUPPORT; EMOTIONS

Domaines: Psychologie

Nicole Cantisano, Bernard Rimé, María Muñoz-Sastre. The social sharing of emotions in HIV/AIDS: A comparative study of HIV/AIDS, diabetic and cancer patients. Journal of Health Psychology, 2012, 18 (10), pp.1255-1267. ⟨10.1177/1359105312462436⟩. ⟨hal-02482243⟩