Behavioural Surveillance Surveys - The Wisdom of Whores

it is asking if the respondent has had sexual
intercourse as defined, which is penile
penetration of either of the two locations.
The term “sexual intercourse” is defined in
this way for this survey because vaginal and
anal sex are the main sexual risk behaviors
for HIV infection. “Heavy petting” or “deep
kissing” don’t “count” as “sexual intercourse”
in this survey.
Q302. Record the age at which the
respondent first had sexual intercourse,
according to the above definition. Probe to
get the best estimate. If he/she cannot
remember, probe using age ranges (between
8 and 10 years? older than 10 but younger
than 13? and so on). Here the respondent is
being asked to think back to what may be a
distant time period. Make sure the respondent
understands that you are asking about age at
the first ever experience of sexual intercourse.
Q303. Many variables use the sexually
active subsample as a denominator. This
subsample is restricted, however, to those
reporting sexual activity within the past 12
months (but not the past calendar year).
If the respondent has had sexual intercourse
in the past, but not within the previous 12
months, then you skip sections 4, 5, and 6,
go to section 7 (Q702), and do not ask about
any sexual partners.
Q304. The purpose of this question is to
determine what types and how many of each
type of sexual partner the respondent has had.
“Commercial” partners are considered to be
those with whom money was exchanged.
Commercial partners are a type of non-regular
partners. In many surveys, “non-regular”
partners are considered to be those with
whom the respondent has had a sexual
relationship lasting less than 12 months or
whom are non-spousal and non-live-in.
Although these usually include both commercial
and non-commercial partners, in this
survey, we are trying to distinguish between
“commercial” and other “non-regular” partners
because risk levels may differ. In many
places, men are reducing their reliance on
commercial sex but may be increasing their
involvement with non-commercial, nonregular
partners. We want to be able to track
these trends in partner types. The second
category, “spouse or live-in partner” is often
referred to as “regular” partners. Remember
that spouses and live-in partners always are
included in the “regular” category regardless
of length of time of marriage or living-in.
B EHAV I OR A L S U R V EI L L A NC E SURV EY S APPEN DI X 2
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