HIV risk, seropositivity and predictors of infection among homeless and non-homeless women sex workers in Miami, Florida, USA

Although homelessness has frequently been associated with substance abuse, and has been established as a predictor of HIV risk among substance abusers, little is known about the impact of homelessness on HIV risk among female sex workers. This analysis investigated the contribution of homelessness to sexual risk taking among a sample of 485 female sex workers recruited into an HIV prevention programme in Miami, Florida, 41.6% of whom considered themselves to be currently homeless. Findings indicated that in comparison to non-homeless sex workers, significantly more homeless sex workers were daily users of alcohol and crack, and their past month sex work reflected significantly more frequent vaginal and oral sex acts, higher levels of unprotected vaginal sex and more numerous sexual activities while 'high' on drugs. At the same time, a significantly greater proportion of homeless sex workers encountered customers that refused to use condoms than did the non-homeless sex workers. There were no significant differences in HIV seropositivity between the homeless and nonhomeless women (22.5 and 24.9%, respectively), primarily because the majority of the women in the study cycled in and out of homelessness.