The Impact of an Educational Program on Knowledge and Attitude of Female Sex Workers in Preventing High Risk Sexual Behaviours

The most important risk factor for one’s sexual health is high-risk sexual behavior. Implementation of educational programs has been considered as one of the most crucial interventions in the prevention and treatment of these behaviors. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effect of an educational program on the knowledge and attitude of female sex workers toward preventing high-risk sexual behaviors. This pretest-posttest, one-group study was conducted on 40 female sex workers, imprisoned in Mashhad Vakil Abad prison in 2013. Data were collected using a questionnaire including demographic characteristics, as well as knowledge- and attitude-related data. An educational program was designed after the pretest and conducted in four 70-minute sessions. Immediately and four weeks after the educational program, post-test was performed. Data were analyzed by Friedman and Wilcoxon tests, using SPSS version 16. A positive significant increase was found in the mean scores of knowledge and attitude of female sex workers immediately and four weeks after the program (P<0.001). Considering the increased knowledge and improved attitude of female sex workers in this study, it is necessary to design and implement educational programs in prisons.