Abstract

RODRIGUES, Arakcy Martins. The gap between the knowledge of transmission ways and the preventive practices of AIDS among college students: the action of collective defense ideologies. Psicol. USP [online]. 1996, vol.7, n.1-2, pp.51-71. ISSN 1678-5177.

Campaigns based on results of researches on behavior are often condemned to failure when the target is behavioral changes. This probably happens, among other reasons, because human action is partially directed by unconscious factors. Socio-cultural determination itself is processed by mechanisms which are not consciously realized by the individual. Research into preventive sexual behavior related to AIDS has systematically shown that: a) there is a discrepancy between the knowledge about the ways of transmission and sexual practices; b) there is a relative "lack of interest" in the theme; c) the risks which are independent of preventive behavior are overestimated. In an attempt to wider the understanding of these results and to unify them into one continuous feature, the research intends to work with the hypothesis of a "collective defense ideology" shared and constructed socially, an unconscious reaction toward an unbearable reality. Thirty undergraduates from the University of São Paulo, allocated in groups according to gender and colleges of Exacts Sciences, Biological Sciences, Human Sciences and Arts will be interviewed in a qualitative research by means of free discussion and life history.

Keywords : Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome; AIDS prevention; Psychosexual behavior; Behavioral assessment; Experimentation; College students.

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