This proposal is for a 30-month exploratory, descriptive study of the patterns of condom use, experiences using condoms, attitudes about condom use, and sexual practices of male homosexual prostitutes. Using a combination of theoretical and chain referral sampling methods, developed in a previous study of the IV drug use and needle sharing practices of male prostitutes, the project will locate and interview 450 male prostitutes - 225 """"""""hustlers"""""""" and 225 """"""""call men"""""""" in San Francisco. By means of pre-coded, quantitative interview schedules data will be gathered on patterns of condom use, patterns of drug use, experiences and problems associated with using condoms and attitudes about using condoms in order to generate new descriptive data about the condom use of persons who are considered to be doubly at risk to contract HIV, AIDS and ARC. The project will also gather information about individual male prostitutes' knowledge of AIDS from a self-administered test which will be utilized to test the notion that knowledge of AIDS and how it is transmitted has impacts on condom use and unsafe sexual behaviors. In addition, the project will explore the disinhibition theory as it relates to drug use (both legal and illegal), patterns of condom use and unsafe sexual practices. Statistical analyses of the data will focus upon testing hypothesis and generating new knowledge about the ways that male prostitutes use condoms with various types of sexual partners (males, females, customers, intimates, friends, and anonymous partners), their experiences and attitudes about condom use. Findings from the study will generate valuable new information about a group which is considered to be at very high risk to contract the HIV virus. In as much as a high percentage of the customers of male prostitutes are bisexuals and married men living with families and that a minority of male prostitutes also serve both men and women, they could serve as an epidemiological bridge to heterosexual populations, women and children. Information emanating from the study could be immediately useful in developing AIDS education and prevention programs, and programs to encourage the use of condoms. At present, nearly all existing AIDS prevention programs are being developed with only meager information about condom use.
| Waldorf, D (1994) Drug use and HIV risk among male sex workers: results of two samples in San Francisco. NIDA Res Monogr 143:114-31 |
