Homens que fazem sexo com homens, infecções sexualmente transmissíveis e as práticas de prevenção: um estudo de representações sociais

Abstract

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have a great impact on sexual and reproductive life around the world and the Ministry of Health (MS) points out a higher risk of HIV infection in men who have sex with men (MSM). In this context, the general objective of the study is to analyze the social representations about STIs and the relationship with prevention practices among MSM. This is a descriptive, qualitative study, with a qualitative approach, anchored in the structural approach of the Theory of Social Representations. Data collection took place from July to October 2022, in public environments in the city of Rio de Janeiro after prior contact with the participants through social networks. Homosexual men were included in the study, aged between 18 and 29 years and sexually active, who answered two data collection instruments: a sociodemographic characterization questionnaire and a form for capturing free evocations, with two inducing terms "STD" and “STD prevention”. Sociodemographic data were organized in an Excel spreadsheet. The free evocations were analyzed with the aid of the EVOC software with the construction of the four-house chart. The study included 100 young MSM aged between 26 and 29 years (65%); white skin color (49%); lived with parents (38%); did not have a partner (66%) and had paid employment (76%). With regard to sexual practices, the regular use of condoms was reported only by 38%; had a steady sexual partner (67%) and of these, 45% used condoms inconsistently or sporadically. Among the participants, 79% reported relationships with casual partners in the last 12 months and of these, 59% used condoms during sexual intercourse. In the prototypical analysis of the inducing term “STD”, the elements that constitute the probable core of the social representation of MSM, defined as the most important in terms of salience, were the terms HIV, syphilis, disease, condoms and fear. For the inducing term “STD prevention”, the elements that constitute the probable core were the terms condoms, PrEP and care. In the similarity analysis, the cognem that obtained the highest number of connections for the inducing term “STD” was HIV; for the inducing term “STD prevention”, the cognem condom was the one that presented the highest number of connections, reinforcing the possibility of their centrality. It is concluded that there are representational contents about STIs and the prevention of these infections, in the conception of young MSM. From this perspective, young people demonstrated knowledge about STIs and prevention (cognitive dimension), associated condoms with STI prevention (imagery dimension), reported feelings and attitudes related to the topic (affective/attitudinal dimension), in addition to practical aspects regarding STI prevention (practical dimension).