WELL BEING OF FEMALE SEX WORKERS

摘要

Background: Subjective well being among female sex workers is less explored and only few studies talked about this complex issue. Aim: To study the subjective well being of female sex workers. Method: Based on the informed consent, seventy female sex workers were randomly selected from the study population. The PGI - General Well Being scale (Verma et al., 1983) and a semi structured socio demographic schedule were used to collect the data. Results: Major findings of the study were that half of the female sex workers fall under the age group of 27 to 36, having studied up to high school (50%), majority (90%) of them being married and were using one or other substance (72.9%). Their perception of subjective well being shows that 38.6% had good positive mental health, 35.7% had moderate mental health and about one quarter (25.7%) of the respondents had low positive mental health. High subjective well being among Pre University Course (PUC) and above educated female sex workers (M=16.88, ±4.52) was noted, whereas less was noted among the group of illiterate female sex workers (M=8.96, ±5.53). Conclusion: There is a need to address female sex workers issues beyond HIV/AIDS. The current findings open up the need for appropriate interventions.