Queensland's Female Sex Workers Generally Happy In Their Work

Queensland's female sex workers have similar levels of job satisfaction, physical health and mental well-being as women in the general population.


This is a key finding from an in-depth study into prostitution in Queensland by Queensland University of Technology PhD researcher Charrlotte Seib.


Ms Seib, from the School of Public Health, surveyed 247 female sex workers aged between 18 and 57 years located throughout Queensland.


She found that legal sex workers - those who worked in licensed brothels or who were registered to work from home - reported similar job satisfaction to women in the general community.


However, illegal sex workers - those who solicited in the street - had lower job satisfaction than other workers.


"The general picture is that those women whose families know about their work reported greater job satisfaction than those who kept their work secret," Ms Seib said.


"When asked their reasons for entering the sex industry, 82 per cent cited financial reasons, 52 per cent indicated that working in the sex industry offered good money and flexible working hours and 39 per cent said they had a particular goal in mind such as a new car, a house or a holiday."


The study also found that, contrary to the popular stereotype that sex workers came from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, one in four women surveyed had a Bachelor degree or higher, and 63 per cent were employed before they entered the industry.


Overall, sex workers had similar mental health to women from the general community, although illegal "street" workers reported greater psychological difficulty.


"The reasons for this are complex. Often, illegal sex workers had left home at an early age and for negative reasons (such as child abuse), and they were more likely to suffer violence at work and were more likely to use illicit drugs," Ms Seib said.


"The violence reported by illegal sex workers is of concern and illegal sex workers have little protection. Overall, 52 per cent of women in this group had been raped or bashed by a client in the past year compared with 12 per cent of private workers and just 3 per cent of brothel workers."


Ms Seib said the Queensland law had created two different sex industries - one that was protective and one that disadvantaged sex workers.


"Legalisation of this industry was been effective for those working within legal boundaries. However, street-based sex workers continue to be at significant risk."


She said policies and strategies should be extended to all sex workers and new strategies for managing health and safety risks should be considered.


"For example, strategies such as decriminalising street solicitation in specified areas, providing safe houses or repealing the laws that prevent two or more women working together would offer some protection," Ms Seib said.


Ms Seib's research involved close collaboration with QUT, sex workers, the Queensland Prostitution Licensing Authority, the Police Service, commercial sex industry owners, public health agencies and the University of Queensland.


"This collaboration is an example of how public health practice bridges the divide between social groups that often are opposed. The essence of our approach is to focus on the people first. Discrimination and stigma are the enemies of clear thinking and an inclusive society," Ms Seib said.


qut.edu.au

Clinical Study Supports Benefit Of Breastfeeding Support For Obese Women

Breastfeeding is best, but what happens when something goes wrong? And why do so many women struggle with this "natural" process even after carefully following all the well-meaning advice they've gotten from their health care providers? Not surprisingly, some women have more difficulty than others and there are many factors associated with experiencing breastfeeding problems - especially in the first week after birth. For example, being African-American, having less than a high school education, and being poor are all associated with suboptimal breastfeeding outcomes. Recent studies also consistently show that being overweight or obese increases the chance that a woman will suffer breastfeeding problems. With burgeoning rates of obesity and a continued public health effort to promote breastfeeding, researchers are scrambling to figure out why overweight women have trouble breastfeeding and what can be done to circumvent this predicament.


On April 25, two talks concerning the potential benefits of intensive breastfeeding support for obese women will be presented at the Experimental Biology 2010 meeting in Anaheim. These presentations are part of the scientific program of the American Society for Nutrition, the nation's leading nutrition research society. Scientists from the University of Connecticut, Hartford's Hispanic Health Council, the Hartford Hospital, and Yale University will speak. Their findings provide compelling evidence that peer counseling and support can substantially improve breastfeeding success among these at-risk ladies.


These studies, which were prompted by a sincere desire to "really understand whether obese women could be more successful at breastfeeding if they have help," were spearheaded by Dr. Donna Chapman, Assistant Director of the Center for Eliminating Health Disparities among Latinos (CEHDL) in Hartford, CT and graduate student Katie Morel. Using a very powerful scientific method employing randomization and intervention groups, Chapman and Morel studied 154 women recruited during pregnancy. All of the women involved in the study were overweight or obese (body mass index > 27 kg/m2) and hoping to successfully breastfeed. In general, the study's subjects were predominantly Puerto Rican, low-income, and had less than a high-school education. Whereas all of the participants received standard information concerning the benefits of breastfeeding, 76 of them were randomly chosen to also receive intensive, hands-on breastfeeding support from specially trained peer counselors. For instance, women in the "intervention" group were visited three times in their homes during late pregnancy and 11 more times in the first few months after birth. During these visits, the peer counselors offered helpful advice to offset immediate problems and were able to provide breast pumps to women needing them. The researchers then documented whether there were benefits of the specialized peer counseling on breastfeeding success, infant health and - in a subset of the women - breastfeeding techniques.















As they had hoped, Chapman and her colleagues found that peer counseling substantially improved breastfeeding success. Whereas 16% and 46% of the women in the "control" group had stopped breastfeeding by 2 and 8 weeks postpartum, respectively, only 7% and 33% of the women in the "intervention" group had stopped. They also documented important effects of personalized breastfeeding support on infant nursing behaviors. And to add even more bang for the buck, babies of mothers who received the extra counseling were 3.5 times less likely to be hospitalized during their first 3 months of life. This was mostly due to lower rates of respiratory infections and fever.


Chapman concluded "With help, obese women can be very successful at breastfeeding. And not surprisingly, the more intensive the support, the more successful they can be." This should be reassuring to both women and their care providers who are striving to do the right thing in terms of maternal and infant care- that is, support the myriad benefits of breastfeeding for both mom and baby.


Dr. Donna Chapman; Katherine Morel (Hispanic Health Council); Nan Kyer, IBCLC (Hispanic Health Council); Sarah Young, RN, MSN, IBCLC (Hartford Hospital); Dr. Rafael Perez-Escamilla (Yale University); Dr. Angela Bermudez-Millan (Hispanic Health Council); and Grace Damio, MS, CD/N (Hispanic Health Council) were co-authors on these studies. Funding for this research was secured by Dr. Rafael Perez-Escamilla (principal investigator) from the Donaghue Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and from NIH NCMHD grant P20MD001765.


Source
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)