The Homophobia Course in the Life of Older Gay Men in Brazil: Their Social Representations.

This study aims at understanding the social representations of homophobia among older gay men. A number of 20 older gay men aged between 60 and 75 years old participated of the study; the average age was 63.25 years old (SD = 3.58). In the data collection, a semi-structured interview about homophobia was used; they were analyzed on IRAMUTEQ, which compiles the descendant hierarchical classification. The corpus was divided into three classes of social representations. The first representation comprises images of prejudice within society. The second one presents social representations involving reports of internalized homophobia and the experiencing of prejudice. The third one shows social representations about physical and identity violations. The social representations of homophobia show how the participants lead their actions in society, being based upon risk and protection issues to face the objective and subjective difficulties present in their social representations.

Criminalization of LGBTphobia in Brazil: A Comparison of Homosexual Men's and Heterosexual Men's Conceptions.

LGBTphobia is a characteristic of Brazil when data on this type of violence are analyzed. For a long time, this theme was neglected at many social levels, including the legal and governmental spheres. A response to the violence experienced by Brazilian LGBT+ people has been tried many times through specific laws, however, only after many years did this advance happen. Then, Brazil became the 43rd country to criminalize LGBTphobia. Even with such progress, LGBTphobia rates in Brazil continued to be alarming, constituting a social, health and legal issue. In view of these factors, this study sought to analyze the social conceptions about criminalization among Brazilian homosexual men and heterosexual men. Based on the analysis performed, contrasting differences were noted between the two groups. It is expected that this study can provide technical and scientific data to possible interventions on the problems exposed.

Knowledge and Concern about STIs/HIV and Sociodemographic Variables Associated with Getting Tested for HIV Among the General Population in Spain.

HIV testing is important in terms of prevention and treatment. However, HIV testing rates in the Spanish general population remains low. Therefore, HIV testing promotion constitutes a key issue. A high level of knowledge about HIV/AIDS is associated with having been tested for HIV. The general aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of people who had ever been tested for HIV in Spain. The sample consisted of 1,106 participants from the general population - 60.0% females and 40.0% males - aged between 17 and 55 years old. The assessment instruments were a questionnaire on sociodemographic data and HIV testing, a scale of knowledge about STIs and HIV/AIDS, and a scale of concern about STIs/HIV. Results showed that greater knowledge about STIs and HIV was associated with a greater likelihood of being tested for HIV (OR = .77; 95.0% CI = .73-.82; p < .05). In addition, higher concern about HIV/AIDS decreased the likelihood of not having been tested for HIV (OR = .87; 95.0% CI = .83-.92; p < .05). In fact, the higher participants concern about STIs was, the lower their likelihood of not having been tested for HIV was (OR = .87; 95.0% CI = .83-.91; p < .05). It is necessary to promote HIV testing in the general population as well as to consider their socio-demographic and psychological characteristics.

Analysis of resilience and sexual behavior in persons with HIV infection.

The main objective of this study was to evaluate ex post facto resilience in persons with HIV infection and its relationship to socio-demographic and sexual behavior variables. Participants included 159 persons with HIV infection, of both sexes, aged between 19 and 55 years. Fifty-one percent of patients were infected through homosexual means. Sixty-seven percent were in the asymptomatic phase of infection. Assessment instruments used were the following: a questionnaire on socio-demographic data and sexual behavior and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. The evaluation was individual, voluntary, and anonymous. The results showed that 49.05% of patients had average resilience, 27.68% had high resilience, and 23.37% had low resilience. They found that heterosexual patients infected with HIV, diagnosed between 1985 and 1990 (23 and 28 years of diagnosis) and those who had disclosed their HIV status to more than 30 people, had greater resilience than homosexual patients, diagnosed between 1996 and 2000 (13 and 17 years of diagnosis) and those who had disclosed their HIV status to 1-5 people. Finally, resilience was not a predictor of sexual risk factor. It is suggested that health interventions take into account the resilience and psychological variables that may be beneficial to improve coping with the disease.

[A psychosocial perspective of depressive symptoms in adolescence]. / Uma perspectiva psicossocial da sintomatologia depressiva na adolescência.

This study aimed at understanding the social representations (SR) of depression among adolescents on high school level. Two hundred and twenty-two (222) adolescents of both sexes (53% male and 47% female), aged between 14 and 19 years and attending the first, second and third grades of high school participated in the study. The instruments used were: the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) for selecting the sample, using 17 as a cut point. The adolescents who achieved this score were invited to participate in the second part of this study consisting of semi-structured interviews and application of Free Association Tests with the stimulus words: depression, depressed person and me. It was verified that the adolescents anchored their SR of depression as synonym for pain, grief, misfortune, hatred, death, discouragement, anxiety, solitude and tears. The SR elaborated by the social actors of this study revealed a similarity with the conception/description, as described in psychiatry. The purpose of this study besides helping to understand the suffering provoked by depressive symptoms is to contribute to a better quality of life of these adolescents.