Safety strategies: Contextual evidence from women in sex work

Choi, S. Jennifer

Saturday, March 21, 2015: 9:50 AM-11:10 AM

Mount Vernon Square A (Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel)

Speaker:
S. Jennifer Choi, BA, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

Authors:
Michele R. Decker, ScD, MPH, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Samantha L. Illangasekare, PhD, MPH, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Erin Clark, MPH, MBA, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Erin Pearson, MPH, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Susan Sherman, PhD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Nancy Glass, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN, Johns Hopkins University

Presentation Format:
Scientific Program Report

Learning Objectives:

Describe safety strategies for violence prevention and intervention among women involved in sex work.
Translate contextual evidence on safety strategies into recommendations for clients/patients involved in sex work.
Conceptualize research to advance our knowledge on improving safety for women involved in sex work.

Description:
Sexual violence and other abuse are prevalent among women in sex work. Very little is known about the ways they attempt to prevent and mitigate violence. This qualitative study describes safety strategies among women in sex work (n=35); findings include managing locations and clients, as well as verbal resistance. Our study presents some of the first contextual evidence, i.e., perceived utility, feasibility, and acceptability, on safety strategies for this population, so as to guide prevention and future research.