Aids, relações conjugais e confiança: Um estudo sobre representações sociais

Abstract

This paper has the goal of understanding how social representations of HIV influence preventive measures against this virus in conjugal relations between heterosexual men and women. Forty-eight people took part on this research, half men and half women, heterosexuals living as couples. Age ranged from 19 to 74 years. For the analysis of collected material, a descending hierarchical classification of narratives (ALCESTE) was used. Results have showed through AIDS social representations that the interviewed subjects proceeded with caution when dealing with people from specific social groups, adopting the idea of "unsafe groups". Besides, it was identified that they related AIDS to fear and sex with people who had not safe sexual behaviors. It was possible to discover, with this study, that the known partner is less dangerous than the unknown ones. There was a specific way of denial of the risk by the subjects, due to stable relationships they had.