IntroductionResearch on the intimate partnerships of female sex workers (FSWs) tends to focus on the risks associated with these relationships. This paper takes as its starting point that the situation of FSWs is better understood by including knowledge of the benefits of their intimate partnerships. Specifically, we employ the conceptual framework provided by emergent research examining intimacy as a complex fusion of affective and instrumental dimensions among sex workers. This perspective allows us to frame information about FSWs’ intimate partnerships within a behaviour-structural approach that is helpful for identifying how intimate partnerships can be a source of both benefit as well as increased risk to FSWs.MethodsOur results are based on a mixed-methods study carried out in the summer of 2011 in Kibera, Kenya. We conducted face-to-face interviews (n=30) with a non-probability sample of FSWs stratified by age who self-identified as Human Immune Virus positive (HIV+). We asked about participants’ involvement in current and past intimate partnerships, and whether these relationships had a positive or negative impact on their health and well‒being.ResultsParticipants currently in intimate partnerships had fewer clients and thus lower incomes than those without intimate partnerships. Participants presently with partners were also more likely to receive some financial support from partners, to report lower intimate partner violence, and to narrate higher partner emotional support and greater assistance with medications. These participants were also more likely to have disclosed their sex work and HIV+ statuses to their partners. Intimate partnerships, on the other hand, showed increased risk of economic vulnerability and emotional dependence for FSWs. This became especially problematic for those participants in fragile relationships. Despite these variations, none of the differences between the two groups were statistically significant.ConclusionsIntimacy and transactional relations are bound up with one another and intersect with the structural realities and vulnerabilities; this is the case for sex workers in well-resourced and resourced-constrained countries alike. Rather than treating intimate partnerships as distinct from transactional relationships, FSWs’ relationships should be viewed on a continuum of risk and support.
Stem cell research has generated considerable attention for its potential to remediate many disorders of the central nervous system including neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and cerebral palsy (CP) that place a high burden on individual children, families and society. Here we characterized messaging about the use of stem cells for ASD and CP in news media articles and concurrent dissemination of discoveries through conventional science discourse. We searched LexisNexis and Canadian Newsstand for news articles from the US, UK, Canada and Australia in the period between 2000 and 2014, and PubMed for peer reviewed articles for the same 10 years. Using in-depth content analysis methods, we found less cautionary messaging about stem cells for ASD and CP in the resulting sample of 73 media articles than in the sample of 87 science papers, and a privileging of benefits over risk. News media also present stem cells as ready for clinical application to treat these neurodevelopmental disorders, even while the science literature calls for further research. Investigative news reports that explicitly quote researchers, however, provide the most accurate information to actual science news. The hope, hype, and promise of stem cell interventions for neurodevelopmental disorders, combined with the extreme vulnerability of these children and their families, creates a perfect storm in which journalists and stem cell scientists must commit to a continued, if not even more robust, partnership to promote balanced and accurate messaging.
Parents and primary caregivers of children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are faced with difficult treatment choices and management options for their children. The potential of stem cell technologies as an interventional strategy for CP and ASD has gained attention in the last decade. Information about these interventions varies in quality, resulting in a complex landscape for parent decision making for a child's care. Further complicating this landscape are clinics that advertise these interventions as a legitimate treatment for a fee. In this study, we surveyed individuals who considered taking their child with ASD or CP abroad for stem cell interventions on their use of different sources of stem cell related health information and their level of trust in these sources. Participants reported that while the Internet was their most frequent source of information, it was not well-trusted. Rather, information sources trusted most were researchers and the science journals in which they publish, other parents of children with CP and ASD, and healthcare providers. These findings highlight a dichotomy between information-seeking preferences and information-trusted sources. We discuss the challenges of health science communication and present innovative opportunities to increase communication with trusted and reliable sources as part of an integrated multi-pronged approach.
People who use drugs are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system in Canada; how they come to be in contact with this system is typically through encounters with police. Understanding the nature of encounters between people who use drugs and police is vital to developing interventions and policing practices that are appropriate, fair, and promote the well-being of this community. This study quantitatively and qualitatively examines police encounters from the perspectives of youths and adults who use drugs in Victoria, British Columbia. The results show divergent predictors of police encounters and perceptions of these encounters based on age cohort. Youths were more likely to report police encounters and were more likely to perceive these encounters as negative compared with the adult cohort. Among both age groups, unstable housing was a significant predictor of reporting a recent encounter with the police. Among adults only, opioid use was a significant predictor of negative encounters. The qualitative findings show that negative perceptions were largely due to police harassment, being labelled as a person who uses drugs, and interference with drug paraphernalia. These findings also show that mutual respect and relationships built over time contribute to more positive reports of encounters. There were also many reports of positive experiences despite legal interference. These results suggest that people who use drugs belong to a group that are labelled and discriminated against, but that relationship building between people who use drugs and police can have a positive impact. These results may inform local policing practices and cultures, which can promote the health and well-being of the community.
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