THE ACSF SURVEY - SETTING UP A MULTIDISCI PLINARY STUDY OF SEXUALITY

In order to develop a strategy for AIDS prevention and to construct mo dels of the epidemic's evolution, the National AIDS Research Agency re quested that a survey of sexual behaviour in France should be undertak en. Such a project was bound to be multidisciplinary and combine a des criptive epidemiological approach with a psychological and sociologica l analysis of factors involved in different types of sexual activity. A multidisciplinary team was set up which included epidemiologists, so ciologists, demographers, psychologists and economists. The approach a t every stage of the research process was interdisciplinary : defining the issues, designing the method, collecting the data, and analising them. However, it must be noted that the analyses that have been made up to date are still mostly monodisciplinary, even though the approach of each member of the team may have been influenced by the many multi disciplinary discussions that took place at the beginning of the resea rch. An overall multidisciplinary analysis is being undertaken with th e object of identifying the social and psychological conditions that l ead to relations which involve what the epidemiologists call unsafe pr actices. The results are expected to provide the instrument necessary for the understanding of unsafe situations and thus to develop more ad equate prevention strategies.