Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
PLoS One. 2022 Jun 8;17(6):e0269730. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269730. eCollection 2022.
Sex workers may use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a means to mitigate occupational health and safety (OHS) risks by exchanging harm reduction techniques (e.g., screening) on blogs and social media. ICTs can also assist sex workers in creating online communities, where community members can act as each other's safety check-ins, an additional harm reduction technique. In Canada, there is a paucity of research around ICT usage by sex workers for managing occupational health and safety. The objective of this study was to qualitatively examine the needs and preferences of Canadian sex workers when using ICTs in the delivery of strategies for occupational health and safety. Using a theoretical framework derived from a Social Ecological Model perspective, semi-structured interviews were conducted via phone, with a mixed gender sample (N = 22) of sex workers, between April and July 2020. OHS risks were found to be related to structural determinants, client behaviours, and lack of experience and knowledge when newly entering sex work. Participant accounts revealed a socially cohesive online community; however, sex workers reported difficulties in finding these communities, particularly when entering sex work. Such barriers to supportive communities were attributed to the criminalized, hidden nature of sex work that resulted in the fragmentation of harm reduction techniques across several online platforms, such as blogs, YouTube videos, closed electronic chat groups, and open online sex worker supportive communities. Moreover, these platforms and/or their content could potentially disappear without warning, either due to the platform provider seeking to evade possible prosecution, or because new legislation was introduced banning such content. Recommendations for further research include the co-design with sex workers of an innovative, secure, easily accessible, sex worker-only ICT OHS tool, utilizing a web hosting service located in a country where sex work has been either legalized or decriminalized.
性工作者可能会使用信息和通信技术（ICT）来交流减少伤害的技术（例如筛查），从而减轻职业健康和安全（OHS）风险，例如在博客和社交媒体上。ICT 还可以帮助性工作者创建在线社区，社区成员可以互相检查安全状况，这是另一种减少伤害的技术。在加拿大，关于性工作者使用 ICT 管理职业健康和安全的研究很少。本研究的目的是从社会生态学模型的角度定性研究加拿大性工作者在使用 ICT 提供职业健康和安全策略时的需求和偏好。
使用半结构式访谈方法，通过电话采访了 22 名性别混合的性工作者，受访者于 2020 年 4 月至 7 月间参与研究。研究发现，职业健康风险与结构性决定因素、客户行为以及新入行性工作者缺乏经验和知识有关。参与者的叙述揭示了一个社会凝聚力强的在线社区；然而，性工作者报告说，很难找到这些社区，尤其是在刚入行时。导致支持性社区存在障碍的原因是性工作的刑事化和隐蔽性质，这导致减少伤害的技术在几个在线平台上分散，例如博客、YouTube 视频、封闭的电子聊天群组和开放的在线性工作者支持社区。此外，这些平台和/或其内容可能会在没有警告的情况下消失，要么是因为平台提供商试图逃避可能的起诉，要么是因为新的立法禁止了此类内容。进一步研究的建议包括与性工作者共同设计一种创新的、安全的、易于访问的、仅限性工作者使用的 ICT OHS 工具，利用位于性工作合法化或非刑事化的国家的网络托管服务。
