Checking Ethical Decisions - The Transmission of STD

Social Sciences

Living with the genital herpes simplex virus (HSV) creates several problems for the herpes sufferer. This paper delves into the emotional, physical, and social stressors that a person with genital herpes is subjected to, and it suggests a research project based on several scenarios, including the male college student who has herpes and how he approaches his health issue when it comes to intimacy with a girlfriend. In other words, there are ethical issues involved. Should a man tell his girlfriend that he has herpes, or should he just be sure not to become intimate with her when he is having an outbreak? Which decision is the most ethical?

Social Science Research on Herpes and Dating - Background

Genital herpes causes periodic physical discomfort but it also causes "recurrent emotional distress" because one never knows when an outbreak will occur, and certainly the male in this research does not want to pass his infection along to a woman he loves (Dunphy, 2014). He may believe that because he is not having an outbreak it is perfectly safe to engage in sexual intercourse with his sweetheart, but the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains that "Even if you do not have symptoms, you can still infect your sex partners" (CDC). Even the use of condoms "may not fully protect" a person from getting herpes, the CDC explains.

The Research Project

This research should involve a minimum of 15 male college or university students who currently have genital herpes and 15 female students who have no sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and of course this means they do not have herpes.

The male students can be recruited through print advertising in the college newspaper or the local newspaper. Privacy is to be emphasized: potential participants must be assured that their involvement will be one hundred percent anonymous, that their names will never appear on any of the materials used, or on any of the research findings. The advertisement would be something like this: "Male college students with genital herpes sought for research survey that examines the social and psychological issues surrounding herpes. Confidentiality guaranteed. Financial stipend offered for participants. Must be 21 and enrolled in college."

The female students with no STDs can be recruited from a community college psychology class in the same community as the university. They can be chosen from a pool of volunteers that have agreed to take a survey and are assured of confidentiality.

Both groups will complete a background questionnaire (age, gender, ethnic origin, religious and educational background), and for the males, the interviewers will record the responses from the male group and the interviewers will ask follow-up questions.

There are three ethical quandaries that each group will respond to. After the surveys and interviews all the answers and materials will need to be analyzed vis-a-vis ethical values.

Jim has had herpes for 3 years but has no symptoms; he is trying to determine whether he should notify Sharon, his current girlfriend. Should he take a chance, have sex, believing that he won't infect her? Or should he tell her he has herpes (and that he needs to use a condom) which might well scare her off from the relationship?

Jake is attracted to Betty and they haven't had sex, nor do either of them have herpes. But Jake is conflicted as to whether he should use a condom or risk getting something from Betty. He risks a negative reaction from her if he asks about a condom because she might think he is asking her if she has herpes.