Information behavior and HIV/AIDS/STI awareness among Bangladeshi female sex workers: Do informational programs help?

Abstract

Using de Certeau's concepts of “tactics” and “strategies,” this study explores the everyday information seeking behavior of female sex workers (FSWs) in Bangladesh. This study also examined the effectiveness of informational programs on HIV/AIDS and STI in empowering FSWs to negotiate condom use during sex. A mixed method research design was employed in this study, which included face-to-face surveys with 116 female sex workers (FSWs) and four focus group discussions (FGDs) with 23 street based FSWs. The study finds that Bangladeshi female sex workers use “tactics” in meeting their information needs. They reported rarely using formal information sources such as government agencies and indicated sometimes being harassed by law enforcement agencies because of their professional status, creating a distance between formal information agencies and their everyday life information seeking. Furthermore, FSWs reported having significant unmet information needs. The findings regarding the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS and STI informational programs indicated that simply providing ‘information’ may not be sufficient to empower FSWs to negotiate safer sexual practices with their clients.