Relationship between Female Sex Workers’ Attitude toward Provision of Care and Intention to Exit Street-Level Prostitution in Eldoret Town

Prostitution in Kenya is increasing at a very alarming rate and is posing a danger to the society both morally and economically. Efforts to help female sex workers exit prostitution are categorized by the deficiency appropriate interventions among female sex workers (FSWS). Therefore, the current study sought to determine the relationship between the attitude of female sex workers (FSW) towards provision of care and the intention to exit street level prostitution. The study adopted a descriptive correlational study using a mixed approach. This study targeted all the FSW in the Central Business District of Eldoret town and the counselors who deal with a significant number of them. The study used census sampling method. The snowball technique was used to get the respondents up to maturation point. This study utilized questionnaires and interview schedule to get relevant data from the respondents. Experts in the Department of Counselling Psychology and the researcher’s supervisors assisted in ensuring that the instruments are valid. To test for reliability of the instruments, the Cronbach Alpha coefficient was used. Cronbach Alpha coefficient of 0.784 was obtained and used after pilot study. The study used SPSS version 23 software to aid in the analysis of both descriptive and inferential statistics. The inferential statistics used was Pearson product-moment correlation. The interview guides were categorized in themes and analyzed using content analysis. The findings of the study showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between FSWs towards provision of Care and Intention Exit Street Level Prostitution (r=0.113 and p=0.043). It was recommended that the stakeholders should also encourage the FSWs to form support groups that may come up with income generating activities so that they may be occupied and in the process exit prostitution. Regarding areas for further studies, the study recommends a more consultative and comprehensive study on the attitudes of FSW towards the intention of Female sex workers in Eldoret Town that involve, County AIDS and STI Coordinator, non-governmental institutions in Eldoret Town. Introduction The process of exiting prostitution is hard as compared to joining. It is influenced by environmental and personal elements. These elements have made it difficult for Female Sex Workers (FSWs) to permanently leave prostitution consistently. Allen, Flaherty and Ely (2010) defined prostitution as the exercise of engaging in sexual actions with someone else for compensation which may be monetary or any kind of favor. Prostitution can cause much social economic harm such as disease outbreaks, poor family lifestyle, stigma and sometimes even death. Some of the risks associated with street level prostitution are physical and sexual assaults from customers (Kurtz & Kiley, 2004) and “pimps” who are persons living off the earnings of a prostitute (Norton-Hawk, 2004). Female sex workers who engaged in street prostitution are at an increased risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS (Farley & Kelly, 2000) and are nearly 18 times likely to die as compared to the general population. Many street prostitutes face depression, bipolar disorder, or posttraumatic stress disorder, fear of violence and arrest, and social stigma (Weitzer, 2009). Some prostitutes also have co-occurring disorders and use drugs or alcohol to cope with their lifestyle (Allen, Flaherty & Ely, 2010). In view of the above, studies have been done on global, regional and local perspective concerning interventions for Female sex workers. These studies have shown mixed findings. For example in Holland and Vanwesenbeeck (2013) conducted a study on burnout among female indoor sex workers partly addressed this issue using ARTICLE INFO Received 28th October, 2018 Received in Revised Form 29th November, 2018 Accepted 1st December, 2018 Published online 6th December, 2018