RESUMO

This phenomenological study, consisting of individual interviews with a sample of 30 women engaged in sex work, examines the intimate relationships of women engaged in sex work in Barbados. Participants often entered relationships with men they met while engaged in sex work. Most experienced relationships that became transactional, abusive, and exploitative. Intimate partner violence (IPV) challenged their ability to negotiate condom use with intimate partners placing them at risk for HIV. A cycle emerged of entering relationships to exit the violent conditions of sex work and then re-entering sex work to escape IPV. Implications for mental health, HIV prevention, IPV, and empowerment services are described.

Assuntos

Infecções por HIV , Violência por Parceiro Íntimo , Masculino , Humanos , Feminino , Trabalho Sexual , Barbados , Comportamento Sexual , Parceiros Sexuais/psicologia , Violência por Parceiro Íntimo/psicologia , Infecções por HIV/psicologia , Fatores de Risco