A parceria sexual na visão de mulheres portadoras do vírus da imunodeficiência humana – HIV

Resumo

Introduction: various factors influence the vulnerability of women to acquire HIV, including low perceived risk and lack of knowledge about their sexual partners’ risk behaviors. Objective: examine how women with HIV/aids perceive risk behaviors related to acquiring the infection and to their sexual partners. Methods: a descriptive and exploratory study was carried out at the outpatient clinic for infectious-contagious diseases and gynecology of a teaching hospital in the interior of São Paulo State. We interviewed 50 women with HIV, who were under clinical follow-up during the puerperium, using an interview script. EPI-INFO 6.0 was used for data analysis. Results: participants presented low perceived risk to acquire HIV/aids; 36 (72%) of them found out about their infection by chance and 33 (66%) informed they did not perform any risk behavior to acquire this virus. Forty-two women (84%) attributed their HIV infection to sexual intercourse, and most of them considered their first or second partner as the source of infection. As to the aspects of their partners’ behavior considered as a “source of infection”, these women mentioned isolated risk factors, and 38 of them (76.0%) indicated more than one associated risk factor. Conclusion: health education programs should adopt prevention of sexual transmission as one of their main targets, with a view to making people aware of the need to adopt safe sexual behavior. In view of the advancement of HIV/aids in the female population, specific prevention strategies need to be directed at this clientele, and men need to be made aware of their coresponsibility for the sexual and reproductive health of their partners.

Descrição

Palavras-chave

HIV, Mulheres, Comportamento sexual, Sexual behavior, Women

Citação

GIR, Elucir; CANINI, Silvia R. M. S.; CARVALHO, Milton J.; PALOS, Marinésia A. P.; REIS, Renata K.; DUARTE, Geraldo. A parceria sexual na visão de mulheres portadoras do vírus da imunudeficiência humana - HIV. DST: jornal brasileiro de doenças sexualmente transmissíveis, Rio de Janeiro, v. 18, n. 1, p. 53-57, 2006.