Safe Sex Practices in HIV Positive Gay Males

The proposed study is designed to examine whether, for a sample of HIV Positive gay males, differences in their sexual attitudes, general knowledge of AIDS, and in selected demographic variables of age, ethnic group, educational level, income, and nature of current relationship(s) are associated with differences in safe sex practices.

In order to comprehensively understand the need for the proposed study it is necessary to first understand AIDS in America. This section of the proposal provides this understanding by examining not only the physiobiological nature of the disease but also its prevalence and its financial, psychological and social consequences. Implications of the disease and its consequences are discussed in terms of relevance for the proposed research.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a disease characterized by the failure of the immune system to protect the body from diverse and life-threatening illnesses. The first cases of AIDS were observed in 1981 when researchers identified the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as having penetrated lymphocytes, macrophages, and cells of the nervous systems of a small sample of gay men, resulting in the development of rare cancers.

The HIV virus is a retrovirus whose own genetic code is integrated with that of the host cell in such a way that when the host

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st year prior to the study) significantly differ depending upon differences in sexual attitudes? Hypotheses Because of the paucity of research on the variables of interest in gay seropositive populations (Becker & Joseph, 1988), the existing literature does not provide a firm foundation for the formulation of directional hypotheses. Therefore, all hypotheses to be tested in the proposed research are formulated as null theses. These null hypotheses are: Null Hypothesis 1 - Safe sex practices will not be observed to significantly differ in association with differences on selected demographic variables. Null Hypothesis 2 - Safe sex practices will not be observed to significantly differ as a function of differences in degree of AIDS Knowledge. Null Hypothesis 3 - Safe sex practices will not be observed to significantly differ as a function of differences in sexual attitudes. Delimitations The boundaries beyond which this study does not seek to generalize can be listed as follows: 1) The study is restricted solely to HIV Positive gay men; whether findings generalize to gay men of different HIV status, or to heterosexual populations cannot be known on the basis of the findings of this study. 2) The study assesses safe sex practices,
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Approximate Word count = 9817
Approximate Pages = 39 (250 words per page)

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