CONTRIBUTORS TO SAFE SEX PRACTICES IN A SAMPLE OF
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 cell subdivides, the virus is itself reproduced. While the system develops antibodies to fight the invading virus, Francis and Chin (1987) have noted that:
...one of the most remarkable aspects of HIV is its propensity for producing a persistent viremic (`carrier') state in a high proportion of infected people despite the presence of antibody. (Francis & Chin, 1987, p.1359)
In other words, the antibodies do not serve the protective function that they are normally designed to fulfill. Today, it is possible to detect these antibodies and so identif...