Behavioural Surveillance Surveys - The Wisdom of Whores

FSW questionnaire -- additional
questions
The FSW questionnaire should be
administered to women who identify as
“prostitutes” although they may use a different
word to describe how they earn their living.
Women who “regularly” exchange sex for
money or gifts are easily identifiable in some
cultural settings, especially if they live in
or work out of brothels, hotels, bars, smaller
eating establishments or on the streets.
However, in some settings, women who
engage in what researchers might call
prostitution, work in a clandestine fashion,
and may not readily identify themselves as
prostitutes. The wording in the questionnaire
may have to be adapted, or some questions
eliminated, in order to avoid damaging rapport
with members of some target groups.
Section 1 : Background characteristics
This section is very similar to section 1 of
the adult questionnaire. You do not need to
record the sex of the respondent, since all
interviews are with female sex workers. FSWs
are also not asked how often they’ve listened
to the radio and watched television. This FSW
questionnaire contains the most questions
of any of the set of questionnaires, so some
questions were eliminated in order to reduce
the total length of time necessary to conduct
the interview.
Q107 : Because FSWs frequently move
around for their work, they are asked about
frequent travel to other places, a behavior that
may put them at greater risk.
Section 2 : Marriage, family, work
Q201-Q205 : The first five questions in
this section are nearly identical to the first
five in section 2 of the adult questionnaire,
attempting to elicit information on past or
present, permanent or stable sexual relationships.
These questions ask about ever having been
married (201), age at first marriage (202),
currently married or living with a sexual
partner (203), and current spouse or partner
having other wives (204). Questions worded
and analyzed in this way give a more detailed
picture of relationship status than does the
traditional multi-category method of asking
about “marital status”.
Q205 : The purpose of this question is
to find out when the respondent first began
exchanging sex for money, suggesting the age
at which these women first become vulnerable
to risk of infection. This question might not
work well at all with women who do not
self-identify as “prostitutes” unless appropriate
language can be developed for the specific
cultural situation.
Q206, Q207 : These questions ask about
income in addition to that supplied by
prostitution (206) and specifically about
sources of additional income (207). Having
other sources of income, or developing other
sources, may help to reduce a woman’s risk
of infection, in the sense that a woman may
feel better able to resist pressure to engage
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A PPEN DI X 2 B EHAV I OR A L SURV EI L L A NC E S U R V EY S