METHODS: Information on each of the MSWs was collected using a questionnaire that covered his personal characteristics and his work background, self-assessed general health status, and use of health and social services. Scales were included in order to assess attitudes towards condom use, knowledge about safe sex, perceptions about the risk of getting HIV, individual self-efficacy, and locus of control.
The questionnaire also asked each respondent to rank his level of agreement with interactive strategies for gaining client compliance with safe sex practices. Alcohol and drug consumption and unsafe sexual practices were relatively low among the MSWs.
Of the 31 MSWs responding, 21 of them A variety of differences were found between the study's 17 street sex workers sex workers who offer their services in public places such as streets and parks and the 14 independent sex workers sex workers who are self-employed, advertise and manage their own business, and have an exclusive location for their commercial sex work. The street MSWs were younger and had less formal education.
Independent MSWs were economically more settled, had been working longer in the sex industry, and were more comfortable about having sex with men. Independent MSWs were also more likely to report a gay sexual orientation and less likely to report using alcohol, marijuana, or other substances. Such programs could increase the proportion of MSWs who know their HIV serostatus and could make MSWs more aware of the risk of different sex acts performed in commercial sex encounters.
Given the differences that we found between street MSWs and independent MSWs, specific strategies and educational materials should be developed for those two subgroups within the MSW population. Sex work is an occupation where a sex worker is hired to provide sexual services for monetary considerations 1.
