REPRESENTAÇÕES SOCIAIS DE MULHERES JOVENS ASSOCIADAS AO SEXO, RISCO E PRÁTICAS PREVENTIVAS.

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to learn about and analyse the social representation system among young women concerning preventive sexual practices and the risk of STD- HIV- AIDS with a view to understanding their socio-cognitive system regarding these issues. The study of an exploratory and descriptive nature adopted a qualitative approach and was carried out through field research in four cities in the state of Goias, Brazil, namely Goiania (Northwestern section), Heitorai, Jaragua and Luziania, according to selection criteria for greater possibility of similar lifestyles among subjects. Participants included 112 women who were sexually active in the last 12 months, aged between 18 and 35 years, and users of the existing public health care service in the municipality under research. The research tool used was a written questionnaire answered by the subjects themselves. Social representations were identified by means of questions that could be freely associated to the following prompting terms: sex, STD, and risk of catching an STD. The centrality test was carried out for evocations of the term sex in order to verify the connection among central elements, i.e., the type of relation that is sustained among the elements that constitute social representation. To that end, a similarity analysis was carried out and a representational tree was built, where the strength of the linkages among the categories is verified. The study of sexual practices was operationally conducted through four key questions about: preventive practices (using the substitution technique, or mute zone ); the proximity to people who have been struck by an STD; sexual habits in women, and reasons for using or for not using a condom. The results indicate that the evocations pleasure and love very probably constitute the central core of this group´s social representation of sex. The first of the two terms is associated to prevention, desire, fear, pregnancy, diseases and condom; whereas the second term is associated to evocations of confidence, affection, intimacy. As regards faithfulness to the partner, it was noted that this behavior is perceived at a higher percentage as being practiced by few women, and that exposure via unprotected sexual practice or via sexual practice involving the characteristics of a partner who has some risk factor for STDs is a reality for many of the subjects. From a representational perspective, sexual life is divided into two poles: one linked to the existence of love and the other to love. Preventive practice has been incorporated by the subjects as a belief because it prevents STDs, but evidence has shown it is absolutely conditioned inasmuch as there is a strong association between love and confidence in which case it is deemed that the use of a condom can be waived. Given the representations researched in this study, it can be stated that, in the socio-cognitive system of these women, the perception of risk is subject to relative variables and that it is lessened in the presence of emotional involvement. Their recognition of the fact that they are in a context where neither prevention nor faithfulness is a priority, coupled with the recognition that they live close to women who had STD or who were infected by HIV, results in a relative perception of risk, i.e., of their own condition of vulnerability. It can be stated that, despite the knowledge gained about risk and the need for prevention, the representation of sex as founded on an interaction between pleasure and love is the determining factor of the sexual practices adopted. The results allow us to think that affection reduces the perception of risk.