Some 12 years into the epidemic, with an effective preventive vaccine or therapy against HIV disease still to be found, this book reflects on the contributions of social and behavioural research to the development of interventions for prevention. After over a decade's work documenting HIV and AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviour, social researchers have begun to focus more clearly on perceptions of sexual safety and risk, and the factors that contribute to these. The issues addressed by the book were examined during three major conferences in 1994: the annual conference of the...

From the start of the AIDS epidemic there have been calls for greater solidarity between affected groups and communities, and public health services. This can be seen both in the move towards healthy alliances in health service work, and in the demands of AIDS activists worldwide. This text brings together specially selected papers addressing these and related themes given at the Eighth Conference on Social Aspects of AIDS held in London in late 1995. Among the issues examined are profession and policy; the heightened vulnerability of groups such as women and younger gay men; and issues of...

This book is a major empirical study of sexual behaviour in the UK. It is based on the findings of project SIGMA - whch is the major British initiative in the AIDS field, funded by the Department of Health and the Medical Research Council. Using in-depth qualitative analysis, the authors have developed new theories of sexuality. They have collected detailed information from over 1000 men in high-risk categories and examined their behavioural changes in response to HIV/AIDS over a four year period 1987-1991. The book presents the latest research on knowledge of HIV, attitudes to AIDS and the...