Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Public Health
Published in: BMC Public Health 1/2018

Open Access 01-12-2018 | Research article

Social network and HIV risk behaviors in female sex workers: a systematic review

Authors: Zahra Jorjoran Shushtari, Seyed Ali Hosseini, Homeira Sajjadi, Yahya Salimi, Carl Latkin, Tom A. B. Snijders

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2018

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Social network characteristics have an important role in understanding HIV transmission among female sex workers. The purpose of this systematic review was to summarize and critically appraise the existing studies on the social network characteristics and HIV risk behaviors among female sex workers.

Method

A systematic review was performed using predefined eligibility criteria through searching electronic databases. Two independent reviewers assessed the methodological quality of studies.

Results

Nineteen papers met the eligible review criteria. The synthesized evidence suggests that characteristics of social networks, especially functional characteristics such as social support and social capital, are important constructs for understanding the HIV risk behaviors.

Conclusions

The findings of the present review enhance our understanding of the role of social network characteristics in HIV risk behaviors among female sex workers. However, the findings also highlighted a dearth of knowledge about the association of structural characteristics of social networks with HIV risk behaviors among female sex workers.
Literature
1.
Sheet F. Global statistics. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). 2014;
2.
3.
UNAIDS. UNAIDS report on the global AIDS epidemic: 2010. Geneva: United Nations; 2010.
4.
UNAIDS. Global HIV/AIDS response: epidemic update and health sector progress towards universal access. Geneva: United Nations; 2011.
5.
Baral S, Beyrer C, Muessig K, Poteat T, Wirtz AL, Decker MR, Sherman SG, Kerrigan D. Burden of HIV among female sex workers in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Infect Dis. 2012;12(7):538–49.CrossRefPubMed
6.
Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education. National Committee of AIDS Monitoring: on monitoring of the United Nations general assembly special sessionon HIV and AIDS. In Tech Rep. 2012.
7.
World Health Organization: HIV/AIDS surveillance in Europe 2015 (2016). In.: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control; 2016.
8.
9.
Valente TW. Social networks and health: models, methods, and applications: Oxford University Press; 2010.
10.
Friedman SR, Kippax SC, Phaswana-Mafuya N, Rossi D, Newman CE. Emerging future issues in HIV/AIDS social research. AIDS. 2006;20(7):959–65.CrossRefPubMed
11.
Adimora AA, Schoenbach VJ, Doherty IA. HIV and African Americans in the southern United States: sexual networks and social context. Sex Transm Dis. 2006;33(7):S39–45.CrossRefPubMed
12.
De P, Cox J, Boivin JF, Platt RW, Jolly AM. The importance of social networks in their association to drug equipment sharing among injection drug users: a review. Addiction. 2007;102(11):1730–9.CrossRefPubMed
13.
Luke DA, Harris JK. Network analysis in public health: history, methods, and applications. Annu Rev Public Health. 2007;28:69–93.CrossRefPubMed
14.
Barrington C, Latkin C, Sweat MD, Moreno L, Ellen J, Kerrigan D. Talking the talk, walking the walk: social network norms, communication patterns, and condom use among the male partners of female sex workers in La Romana, Dominican Republic. Soc Sci Med. 2009;68(11):2037–44.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
15.
Kawachi I, Berkman L. Social cohesion, social capital, and health. Soc Epidemiol. 2000:174–90.
16.
Berkman LF, Glass T. Social integration, social networks, social support, and health. Soc Epidemiol. 2000;1:137–73.
17.
Forouzan AS, Jorjoran Shushtari Z, Sajjadi H, Salimi Y, Dejman M. Social support network among people living with HIV/AIDS in Iran. AIDS Res Treat 2013. 2013;
18.
Auerbach DM, Darrow WW, Jaffe HW, Curran JW. Cluster of cases of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome: patients linked by sexual contact. Am J Med. 1984;76(3):487–92.CrossRefPubMed
19.
Eames KT, Keeling MJ. Modeling dynamic and network heterogeneities in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2002;99(20):13330–5.CrossRefPubMed
20.
Valente TW, Watkins SC, Jato MN, Van Der Straten A, Tsitsol L-PM. Social network associations with contraceptive use among Cameroonian women in voluntary associations. Soc Sci Med. 1997;45(5):677–87.CrossRefPubMed
21.
22.
Organista KC. HIV prevention with Latinos: theory, research, and practice: Oxford University Press; 2012.
23.
Baral S, Logie CH, Grosso A, Wirtz AL, Beyrer C. Modified social ecological model: a tool to guide the assessment of the risks and risk contexts of HIV epidemics. BMC Public Health. 2013;13(1):482.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
24.
Costenbader EC, Astone NM, Latkin CA. The dynamics of injection drug users’ personal networks and HIV risk behaviors. Addiction. 2006;101(7):1003–13.CrossRefPubMed
25.
Latkin CA, Forman V, Knowlton A, Sherman S. Norms, social networks, and HIV-related risk behaviors among urban disadvantaged drug users. Soc Sci Med. 2003;56(3):465–76.CrossRefPubMed
26.
27.
Rothenberg RB, Sterk C, Toomey KE, Potterat JJ, Johnson D, Schrader M, Hatch S. Using social network and ethnographic tools to evaluate syphilis transmission. Sex Transm Dis. 1998;25(3):154–60.CrossRefPubMed
28.
Smith A, Grierson J, Wain D, Pitts M, Pattison P. Associations between the sexual behaviour of men who have sex with men and the structure and composition of their social networks. Sex Transm Infect. 2004;80(6):455–8.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
29.
Rothenberg R, Dan My Hoang T, Muth SQ, Crosby R. The Atlanta urban adolescent network study: a network view of STD prevalence. Sex Transm Dis. 2007;34(8):525–31.PubMed
30.
Choi K-H, Gibson DR, Han L, Guo Y. High levels of unprotected sex with men and women among men who have sex with men: a potential bridge of HIV transmission in Beijing, China. AIDS education and Prevention. 2004;16(1: Special issue):19–30.CrossRefPubMed
31.
Berkman LF, Glass T, Brissette I, Seeman TE. From social integration to health: Durkheim in the new millennium. Soc Sci Med. 2000;51(6):843–57.CrossRefPubMed
32.
Cepeda JA, Solomon SS, Srikrishnan AK, McFall AM, Kumar MS, Vasudevan CK, Anand S, Celentano DD, Lucas GM, Mehta SH. Injection drug network characteristics are important markers of HIV risk behavior and lack of viral suppression. JAIDS J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2017;
33.
34.
Neblett RC, Davey-Rothwell M, Chander G, Latkin CA. Social network characteristics and HIV sexual risk behavior among urban African American women. J Urban Health. 2011;88(1):54–65.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
35.
Latkin C, Kuramoto S, Davey-Rothwell M, Tobin K. Social norms, social networks, and HIV risk behavior among injection drug users. AIDS Behav. 2010;14(5):1159–68.CrossRefPubMed
36.
Noroozi M, Mirzazadeh A, Noroozi A, Sharifi H, Higgs P, Jorjoran-Shushtari Z, Farhoudian A, Fadai F, Mohhamadi-Shahboulaghi F, Armoon B. Injecting and sexual networks and sociodemographic factors and dual HIV risk among people who inject drugs: a cross-sectional study in Kermanshah Province, Iran. Addict Health. 2016;8(3):186.PubMedPubMedCentral
37.
van Santen DK: HIV prevention with Latinos: theory, research and practice. AIDS Care 2014, 26(5):658–658.
38.
Ye X, Shang M, Shen T, Pei B, Jiang X, Cai Y. Social, psychological, and environmental-structural factors determine consistent condom use among rural-to-urban migrant female sex workers in shanghai China. BMC Public Health. 2012;12(1):599.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
39.
Kinsler JJ, Blas MM, Cabral A, Carcamo C, Halsey N, Brown B. Understanding STI risk and condom use patterns by partner type among female sex workers in Peru. The open AIDS journal. 2014;8:17.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
40.
Perkins JM, Subramanian S, Christakis NA. Social networks and health: a systematic review of sociocentric network studies in low-and middle-income countries. Soc Sci Med. 2015;125:60–78.CrossRefPubMed
41.
42.
43.
44.
Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG, Group P. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. Int J Surg. 2010;8(5):336–41.CrossRefPubMed
45.
Fu Z, He N, Duan S, Jiang Q, Ye R, Pu Y, Zhao G, Huang ZJ, Wong FY. HIV infection, sexual behaviors, sexual networks, and drug use among rural residents in Yunnan Province China. AIDS Behav. 2011;15(5):1017–25.CrossRefPubMed
46.
Davey-Rothwell MA, Chander G, Hester L, Latkin CA. Social network characteristics and heavy episodic drinking among women at risk for HIV/sexually transmitted infections*. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2011;72(6):1041–7.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
47.
48.
Miller M, Korves C, Fernandez T. The social epidemiology of HIV transmission among African American women who use drugs and their social network members. AIDS Care. 2007;19(7):858–65.CrossRefPubMed
49.
Schensul JJ, Levy JA, Disch WB. Individual, contextual, and social network factors affecting exposure to HIV/AIDS risk among older residents living in low-income senior housing complexes. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2003;33:S138–52.CrossRefPubMed
50.
Voisin DR, Hotton AL, Tan K, DiClemente R. A longitudinal examination of risk and protective factors associated with drug use and unsafe sex among young African American females. Child Youth Serv Rev. 2013;35(9):1440–6.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
51.
Hosen B. Social relations, health problems and coping strategies of street-connected girls in Dhaka City, Gothenburg. 2015.
52.
Li J, Luo J, Li J, Liu H. Disassortative mixing patterns of drug-using and sex networks on HIV risk behaviour among young drug users in Yunnan China. Public Health. 2015;129(9):1237–43.CrossRefPubMed
53.
Miller M, Paone D. Social network characteristics as mediators in the relationship between sexual abuse and HIV risk. Soc Sci Med. 1998;47(6):765–77.CrossRefPubMed
54.
Hiller SP, Syvertsen JL, Lozada R, Ojeda VD. Social support and recovery among Mexican female sex workers who inject drugs. J Subst Abus Treat. 2013;45(1):44–54.CrossRef
55.
Wilson EC, Garofalo R, Harris RD, Herrick A, Martinez M, Martinez J, Belzer M, Committee TA. Interventions AMTNfHA: transgender female youth and sex work: HIV risk and a comparison of life factors related to engagement in sex work. AIDS Behav. 2009;13(5):902–13.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
56.
Rudolph AE, Linton S, Dyer TP, Latkin C. Individual, network, and neighborhood correlates of exchange sex among female non-injection drug users in Baltimore, MD (2005–2007). AIDS Behav. 2013;17(2):598–611.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
57.
Duff P, Shoveller J, Dobrer S, Ogilvie G, Montaner J, Chettiar J, Shannon K. The relationship between social, policy and physical venue features and social cohesion on condom use for pregnancy prevention among sex workers: a safer indoor work environment scale. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2015;69(7):666–72.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
58.
Fujimoto K, Williams ML, Ross MW. Venue-based affiliation networks and HIV risk-taking behavior among male sex workers. Sex Transm Dis. 2013;40(6):453–8.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
59.
Baral SD, Friedman MR, Geibel S, Rebe K, Bozhinov B, Diouf D, Sabin K, Holland CE, Chan R, Cáceres CF. Male sex workers: practices, contexts, and vulnerabilities for HIV acquisition and transmission. Lancet. 2015;385(9964):260–73.CrossRefPubMed
60.
Fujimoto K, Wang P, Ross MW, Williams ML. Venue-mediated weak ties in multiplex HIV transmission risk networks among drug-using male sex workers and associates. Am J Public Health. 2015;105(6):1128–35.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
61.
Yang H, Li X, Stanton B, Fang X, Zhao R, Dong B, Liu W, Liang S, Zhou Y, Hong Y. Condom use among female sex workers in China: role of gatekeepers. Sex Transm Dis. 2005;32(9):572.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
62.
Li Q, Li X, Stanton B, Fang X, Zhao R. A multilevel analysis of gatekeeper characteristics and consistent condom use among establishment-based female sex workers in Guangxi, China. Sex Transm Dis. 2010;37(11):700.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
63.
Dandona R, Dandona L, Gutierrez JP, Kumar AG, McPherson S, Samuels F, Bertozzi SM. High risk of HIV in non-brothel based female sex workers in India. BMC Public Health. 2005;5(1):87.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
64.
Urada LA, Morisky DE, Hernandez LI, Strathdee SA. Social and structural factors associated with consistent condom use among female entertainment workers trading sex in the Philippines. AIDS Behav. 2013;17(2):523–35.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
65.
Tucker JD, Peng H, Wang K, Chang H, Zhang S-M, Yang L-G, Yang B. Female sex worker social networks and STI/HIV prevention in South China. PLoS One. 2011;6(9):e24816.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
66.
Januraga PP, Mooney-Somers J, Ward PR. Newcomers in a hazardous environment: a qualitative inquiry into sex worker vulnerability to HIV in Bali, Indonesia. BMC Public Health. 2014;14(1):832.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
67.
Chen Y, Latkin C, Celentano DD, Yang X, Li X, Xia G, Miao J, Surkan PJ. Delineating interpersonal communication networks: a study of the diffusion of an intervention among female entertainment workers in shanghai China. AIDS Behav. 2012;16(7):2004–14.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
68.
Hao C, Guida J, Morisky DE, Liu H. Family network, workplace network, and their influence on condom use: a qualitative study among older female sex workers in China. J Sex Res. 2014;52(8):924–35.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
69.
Gu J, Bai Y, Lau JTF, Hao YT, Cheng Y, Zhou RN, Yu CP. Social environmental factors and condom use among female injection drug users who are sex Workers in China. AIDS Behav. 2014;18:S181–91.CrossRefPubMed
70.
Yang X, Xia G. Correlates of consistent condom use among female entertainment workers in shanghai, China: a repeated measures analysis. Int J STD AIDS. 2013;24(7):555–9.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
71.
Klovdahl AS, Potterat JJ, Woodhouse DE, Muth JB, Muth SQ, Darrow WW. Social networks and infectious disease: the Colorado Springs study. Soc Sci Med. 1994;38(1):79–88.CrossRefPubMed
72.
Rothenberg RB, Potterat JJ, Woodhouse DE, Muth SQ, Darrow WW, Klovdahl AS. Social network dynamics and HIV transmission. Aids. 1998;12(12):1529–36.CrossRefPubMed
73.
Woodhouse DE, Rothenberg RB, Potterat JJ, Darrow WW, Muth SQ, Klovdahl AS, Zimmerman HP, Rogers HL, Maldonado TS, Muth JB. Mapping a social network of heterosexuals at high risk for HIV infection. Aids. 1994;8(9):1331–6.CrossRefPubMed
74.
Kerrigan D, Ellen JM, Moreno L, Rosario S, Katz J, Celentano DD, Sweat M. Environmental-structural factors significantly associated with consistent condom use among female sex workers in the Dominican Republic. Aids. 2003;17(3):415–23.CrossRefPubMed
75.
Lau JT, Gu J, Tsui HY, Chen H, Holroyd E, Wang R, Hu X. Prevalence and associated factors of condom use during commercial sex by female sex workers who were or were not injecting drug users in China. Sex Health. 2012;9(4):368–76.CrossRefPubMed
76.
Gu J, Lau JTF, Li MQ, Li HC, Gao Q, Feng XX, Bai Y, Hao C, Hao YT. Socio-ecological factors associated with depression, suicidal ideation and suicidal attempt among female injection drug users who are sex workers in China. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2014;144:102–10.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
77.
Fonner VA, Kerrigan D, Mnisi Z, Ketende S, Kennedy CE, Baral S. Social cohesion, social participation, and HIV related risk among female sex workers in Swaziland. PloS one. 2014;9(1):e87527.
78.
Robins G. Doing social network research (network-based research design for social science): SAGE; 2015.
79.
Reisner SL, Mimiaga MJ, Bland S, Mayer KH, Perkovich B, Safren SA. HIV risk and social networks among male-to-female transgender sex workers in Boston, Massachusetts. J Assoc Nurses AIDS Care. 2009;20(5):373–86.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
80.
Cruz S. In search of safety, negotiating everyday forms of risk: sex work, criminalization, and HIV/AIDS in the slums of Kampala. FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Miami, Florida: Florida International University; 2015.
81.
Cruz S. In search of safety. Sex Work, Criminalization, and HIV/AIDS in the Slums of Kampala: Negotiating Everyday Forms of Risk; 2015.
82.
Urada LA, Halterman S, Raj A, Tsuyuki K, Pimentel-Simbulan N, Silverman JG. Socio-structural and behavioral risk factors associated with trafficked history of female bar/spa entertainers in the sex trade in the Philippines. Int J Gynecol Obstet. 2016;132(1):55–9.CrossRef
83.
Shushtari ZJ, Sajjadi H, Forouzan AS, Salimi Y, Dejman M: Disclosure of HIV status and social support among people living with HIV. Iran Red Crescent Med J 2014, 16(8).
84.
Sarafian I. Process assessment of a peer education programme for HIV prevention among sex workers in Dhaka, Bangladesh: a social support framework. Soc Sci Med. 2012;75(4):668–75.CrossRefPubMed
85.
van Griensven G, Limanonda B, Ngaokeow S, Ayuthaya S, Poshyachinda V. Evaluation of a targeted HIV prevention programme among female commercial sex workers in the south of Thailand. Sex Transm Infect. 1998;74(1):54.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
86.
Sobo EJ. Inner-city women and AIDS: the psycho-social benefits of unsafe sex. Cult Med Psychiatry. 1993;17(4):455–85.CrossRefPubMed
Metadata
Title
Social network and HIV risk behaviors in female sex workers: a systematic review
Authors
Zahra Jorjoran Shushtari
Seyed Ali Hosseini
Homeira Sajjadi
Yahya Salimi
Carl Latkin
Tom A. B. Snijders
Publication date
01-12-2018
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2018
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5944-1

Other articles of this Issue 1/2018

BMC Public Health 1/2018 Go to the issue

Research article

High prevalence of cesarean section births in private sector health facilities- analysis of district level household survey-4 (DLHS-4) of India

Correction

Correction to: Tracking physical activity in different settings from late childhood to early adulthood in Germany: the MoMo longitudinal study

Research article

Magnitude of opportunistic diseases and their predictors among adult people living with HIV enrolled in care: national level cross sectional study, Ethiopia

Research article

Re-look at socioeconomic inequalities in stroke prevalence among urban Chinese: is the inflexion approaching?

Research article

“Taking away the chaos”: a health needs assessment for people who inject drugs in public places in Glasgow, Scotland

Research article

Patterns in quality of life according to employment among the older adults: the Korean longitudinal study of aging (2008–2014)