Characteristics of Women Seeking Services at a Transitional Housing Facility for Women Leaving Street-Based Sex Work: Implications for Social Service Providers

Self-reported sexually-transmitted infections and criminal justice involvement among women who use drugs

“…Women who engage in sex exchange are more likely to be involved in the criminal justice system and also have more sexual partners and thus more potential exposures to STI, and their ability to negotiate for condom use varies by context. (Fogel & Belyea, 1999; Hankel, Heil, Dewey, et al, 2015) Women who use drugs bear a disproportionate burden of criminal justice involvement and are more likely engage in high risk sexual behaviors and to have high risk sexual partners. (Cotten-Oldenburg, Jordan, Martin, et al, 1999; Lorvick, Comfort, Kral, et al, 2017) It remains unclear whether an arrest, episode of probation or incarceration is simply a marker for a combination of measured and unmeasured risk factors for STI, including sex exchange and drug use, or whether the CJ involvement itself increases risk.…”

“…Although some studies take into account the effects of drug use, surprisingly few address sex exchange as another factor that may independently affect both the likelihood of criminal justice involvement and risk for STI. (Hankel et al, 2015; Khan, Epperson, et al, 2011; Rich, Cortina, Uvin, et al, 2013; Rogers et al, 2012; Wise et al, 2017) Understanding the relationships between CJ involvement and STI risk as well as sex exchange and drug use will help public health practitioners, correctional health professionals, and mental health and substance use treatment providers identify appropriate points of intervention to decrease STI risk for this population.…”

Helping women transition out of sex work: study protocol of a mixed-methods process and outcome evaluation of a sex work exiting program

“…Dalla (2006) identified economic instability, mental health challenges, and existing relationships with significant others as barriers to women's successful exit out of sex work, while facilitating factors included community, familial and peer support as well as caring for children. To be effective at supporting women's efforts to exit sex work, interventions should be developed to address these issues in a comprehensive and coordinated fashion [8][9][10][11][12][13], however, few such interventions exist [14].…”

“…The Toronto east downtown core area is particularly well known for street prostitution where hundreds of sex workers provide prostitution related services on the streets and in the city’s strip clubs, massage parlours and underground brothels [ 4 ]. For women who want to, exiting sex work can be complicated by multi-traumatic symptoms and challenges related to addictions, physical and mental health problems, legal matters, housing issues, and lack of employment skills [ 5 – 9 ]. Dalla (2006) identified economic instability, mental health challenges, and existing relationships with significant others as barriers to women’s successful exit out of sex work, while facilitating factors included community, familial and peer support as well as caring for children.…”

“…Existing interventions and programs that support exiting sex work may take on various forms. Residential treatment centres offer intensive time-limited psychoeducational programs targeting issues such as mental health, substace abuse or trauma [ 9 , 11 , 14 , 15 ], while diversion programs involve a collaboration between different community services (e.g., law enforcement, social services, and community members) to provide women with addiction treatment, mental health services, and housing or employment services, and support them in avoiding jail time and eventually exit sex work [ 16 , 17 ]. In a similar fashion, case management involves outreach workers linking their target clientele with community services including housing, mental health and substance abuse treatment services [ 10 ].…”