Publication year: 2011
Source: Social Science & Medicine, Available online 4 October 2011
Isabelle Sarafian
This study evaluated the process of a peer education program for hotel-based sex workers in Dhaka, Bangladesh, with social support proposed as an organizing framework. Programme outcomes were examined through baseline and follow-up assessments. Sex workers naïve to peer education were assessed on socio-cognitive and behavioural variables; a subsample was reassessed at follow-up 23 weeks later on average. Process was assessed in terms of the content of peer education sessions. These sessions were recorded and coded into percentages of social support types provided by the peer educator to her audien informational, instrumental, appraisal, emotional, companionship, non-support. Peer educators were classified into three “social support profiles” based on average proportions of emotional and informational support they provided. Seeing more peer educators with a high informational support profile was related to higher sex worker self-efficacy, self-reported STI symptoms, and self-reported condom use at follow-up; the same was true for the high emotional support profile and treatment seeking. Social support constituted a useful framework, but needs further exploration. This study provided a direct, in-depth examination of the process of peer education based on a comprehensive theoretical framework.
Highlights
► Receipt of informational support was related to increased self-efficacy, STI symptoms, and condom use among sex workers in Bangladesh. ► Receipt of emotional support was related to treatment seeking for STI symptoms.