Objetivo
HIV/AIDS is spreading more rapidly in Eastern Europe than in any other part of the world (UN AIDS, 1999). Building on previous pilot work in this region, this project aims to determine the levels of knowledge and shared social representations of HIV/AIDS amongst 1500 adolescents in Russia, the Ukraine and Georgia and the relationship between beliefs, values and actual sexual behaviour in this sample. This work is complemented by an analysis of the youth magazine and newspaper media in these countries, and an experimental analysis of the impact of a series of focus groups on adolescents' social representations of HIV and their sexual behaviour. The research team comprises of seven groups of researchers drawn from psychology, sociology, social work and medicine.
Following an extensive period of consultation and participant recruitment, the research will take place in three major stages constructed to reflect the different methodological and theoretical specialisations of the project team. Following extensive pilot work, 500 adolescent respondents in each country will complete structured interviews designed to assess values and beliefs, knowledge of HIV-related risks, social representations of HIV/AIDS and actual sexual behaviour. Respondents will also participate in brief interviews investigating beliefs about the origin and spread of HIV/AIDS and the nature of high-risk groups. In stage two of the work the media most frequently read by our respondents will be systematically analysed using coding frames designed to test hypotheses arising from the earlier stage of work. This media material will also serve as stimulus materials in a final stage of research, which will track the discussion of four disparate focus groups of adolescents in each country over a six-month period. Qualitative analyses of group processes will be conducted alongside quantitative analyses of changes in reported sexual behaviours in a quasi-experimental evaluation analysis of behavioural change and shifts in social representations of HIV/AIDS of the group participants.
This work should provide an important insight into the socio-cultural factors underlying sexual behaviour and sexual risk-taking and provide important guidelines for the construction of appropriate and successful interventions amongst this high-risk population.
Convocatoria de propuestas
Data not availableRégimen de financiación
Data not availableCoordinador
UB8 3PH Uxbridge, London
Reino Unido