Behavioural Surveillance Surveys - The Wisdom of Whores

The following provides additional information
regarding the use of these questionnaires
with the relevant sub-population groups.
Adults
This questionnaire has been designed to be
used with both male and female adults who
are 15-years of age or older and who do not
fit into one of the prescribed higher-risk
groups of sex workers, injecting drug users,
and men who have sex with men. Other
instruments are more appropriate for those
groups. This instrument is typically used with
adult occupational groups such as male and
female factory workers, truck drivers, seafarers,
and market venders who may be included
in behavioral surveillance because of
epidemiological and/or qualitative evidence
of their role in the epidemic. Among other
items, the questionnaire asks respondents to
report on their numbers of regular (cohabiting
or spousal) sexual partners in the past year,
commercial (paid) sexual partners, and other
non-regular partners. They are also asked to
report on their last time and consistent condom
use for each of these partner categories.
Unmarried youth
The questionnaire for unmarried youth is
designed to be used with young people who
are at the start of their sexual lives. In many
countries, this questionnaire is used among
girls and boys aged 15-19, and in some its use
is extended to unmarried men and women in
their early 20s.
The questionnaire tracks trends in the
initiation of sexual intercourse and condom
use at first sex, as well as in partner turnover
in this population among whom sexual
partnerships may be inherently unstable.,
It also treats sexual partnerships differently
than the adult questionnaire. In the adult
questionnaire, respondents are asked to report
on their regular vs. commercial vs. non-regular
sexual partnerships. However, since all sexual
partnerships with youth are considered to be
non-regular, questions not asked about regular
partnerships.
If during the course of the rapid assessment
phase it is discovered that a high proportion
of young people in a given setting are married,
then the adult questionnaire should be used.
Surveillance managers should consider
identifying another sampling frame for
unmarried youth to measure and track sexual
behavior in this group.
Female sex workers
The questionnaire for female sex workers is
to be used for women who sell sex. This may
be women who engage in commercial sex in
brothel-based locations or women who sell
sex indirectly in locations such as restaurants,
truck stops, or other places identified in the
rapid assessment process. It should be noted
that it may be more difficult for interviewers to
identify this latter group of women and obtain
their participation in the survey since many of
them will not want to be seen as associated
with commercial sex. Various approaches may
need to be tested to facilitate participation,
including adapting the initial rapport-building
segment of the questionnaire.
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C H A PTER 6 B EHAV I OR A L S U R V EI L L A NC E S U R V EY S