Nemoto T, Iwamoto M, Wong S, Le MN, Operario D; International Conference on AIDS (15th : 2004 : Bangkok, Thailand).
Int Conf AIDS. 2004 Jul 11-16; 15: abstract no. C10778.
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Background: There is a large community of Asian women working in massage parlors in the USA who confront high risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Method: Forty-three Asian masseuses (22 Thai and 21 Vietnamese women) participated in focus groups, and 8 massage parlor owners completed in-depth individual interviews. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling of 22 Asian massage parlors identified in San Francisco. We used a grounded theory approach to analyze transcribed data and explore environmental and behavioral factors that expose these women to HIV and other health risks. Results: We identified three domains that warrant attention for conducting health promotion programs with Asian massage parlor workers. At the sociocultural level, Asian masseuses reported feelings of shame and alienation from family, isolation from community, economic hardship, and limited life options. At the occupational level, Asian masseuses and massage parlor owners described difficult working conditions, multiple daily sex partners, indebtedness to massage parlor owners, and exposure to violence and harm. At the health behavior level, Asian masseuses described inadequate rates of HIV and STD testing, hazardous women's health practices including sex work during menses and frequent douching, reliance on substance use, and lack of language-specific and culturally appropriate health services. Conclusion: Effective interventions for reducing Asian massage parlor workers' HIV risk should address multiple levels that contribute to health and sexual risk behaviors, and should target both masseuses and massage parlor owners as agents of behavior change. Based on these findings we constructed a culturally-relevant health promotion framework which guides an ongoing community-based HIV and substance use prevention intervention program.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
- Asian Americans
- Asian Continental Ancestry Group
- Female
- HIV Infections
- HIV Seropositivity
- Health Behavior
- Humans
- Prostitution
- Risk-Taking
- San Francisco
- Sexual Behavior
- Sexual Partners
- Sexually Transmitted Diseases
- Substance-Related Disorders
- Violence
- manpower
- organization & administration
Other ID:
UI: 102277175
From Meeting Abstracts