Abstract

NATIVIDADE, Jean Carlos  and  CAMARGO, Brigido Vizeu. Characterizing elements of the social representations of adults on aids. Temas psicol. [online]. 2011, vol.19, n.1, pp. 305-317. ISSN 1413-389X.

Characterizing elements of the social representations on aids may reveal how people think and act towards this illness. This study aimed to identify elements of the social representations of adults about aids and to verify relationships between the elements and groups formed from sociodemographic variables. Through a self-administered questionnaire, 480 people were accessed, with an age mean of 25.4 years, 67.7% of whom were women, school education ranging from 9 to over 15 years of study, and occupations linked or not to the health area. A total of 28 elements representative of aids were obtained. The likely components of the central core were: prevention, preservative, illness, transmission, sex, lack of care, fear and suffering. Significant associations were verified also among the groups and the frequencies for most elements, so that affectively loaded elements were more present among groups of female, of participants with less education years and not linked to health

Keywords : Social representation; Aids; Adults.

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