Jovens e Aids: Discursos, Mediações e Apropriação de sentidos youngsters and HIV: Discourses, mediations and meaning apropriations

This presentation shows part of the  results of the research entitled “Health promotion and HIV/SIDA prevention in Rio de Janeiro: a methodology of evaluation for public policies and communication devices”. Its main goal was to identify and analyze the way the population understands, makes circulate and converts into practice the information about HIV prevention. The group under study was youngsters of lower classes in Rio de Janeiro city. The theoretical perspective used was Semiology (Fairclough) and Social Mobilization Perspective developed by Guillerme Toro. The main concept is that the way groups convert into practice the orientation for prevention and control is deeply linked to the way they understand the disease and the risk situations. The methodology used was the elaboration of “symbolic maps” and the encouragment to the population to develope their own prevention methods. The material collected revealed the interconnected presence of moral, religious and medical discourses, such as themes related to violence. The researchers identified the group has plenty of information about HIV prevention, and the “conviction” that the desease can be avoided, but that the prevention is a individual responsability and the use of condom the best option. This shows the strong presence of the public policies discourse. However, under this apparent homogenity was found a great diversity of positions and convictions, with conflict and tensions on class, generaton and gender positions.