Characteristics and organisation of sex work by migration status among indoor-working sex workers in London recruited 2008–2009
| All | UK-born women | EE/FSU women | p Value* | ||||
| n/n | % or median (IQR) | n | % or median (IQR) | n | % or median (IQR) | ||
| No of women interviewed (% of total sample) | 268 | 105 | 39.2% | 163 | 60.8% | ||
| Recruitment method | |||||||
| Project clinic/drop-in/outreach referral† | 78/264 | 29.5% | 6 | 5.7% | 72 | 45.3% | |
| Social network referral | 106/264 | 40.1% | 55 | 52.4% | 51 | 32.1% | |
| Cold call | 52/264 | 19.7% | 26 | 24.8% | 26 | 16.4% | |
| Field worker's contact‡ | 28/264 | 10.6% | 18 | 17.1% | 10 | 6.3% | <0.001 |
| Demographics | |||||||
| Age (years) | 26 (22–35) | 33.5 (24–45) | 25 (22–29) | <0.001 | |||
| Education | |||||||
| Attended higher education | 56/245 | 22.9% | 20 | 21.00% | 36 | 24.0% | |
| Completed secondary education | 175/245 | 71.4% | 73 | 76.80% | 102 | 68.0% | |
| Completed primary | 14/245 | 5.7% | 2 | 2.1% | 12 | 8.0% | 0.11 |
| Accommodation in last 4 weeks | |||||||
| Own home | 149/254 | 58.6% | 76 | 73.1% | 73 | 47.4% | |
| Parents' home | 26/254 | 10.2%.0 | 12 | 11.5% | 14 | 9.1% | |
| Someone else's home | 59/254 | 23.2% | 9 | 8.6% | 50 | 32.5% | |
| Other§ | 20/254 | 7.9% | 7 | 6.7% | 13 | 8.7% | <0.001 |
| Have children | 112/253 | 44.4% | 66 | 66.0% | 46 | 30.1% | <0.001 |
| Organisation of sex work | |||||||
| Main financial reason for entering sex work | |||||||
| Household expenses/support family | 123/248 | 49.6% | 53 | 51.5% | 70 | 48.3% | |
| Social life | 31/248 | 12.5% | 17 | 16.5% | 14 | 10.0% | |
| Studies/saving | 58/248 | 23.4% | 13 | 12.6% | 45 | 31.0% | |
| Drugs | 10/248 | 4.0% | 10 | 9.7% | 0 | 0.0% | |
| Made to work by someone/give to other | 13/248 | 5.2% | 3 | 2.9% | 10 | 6.9% | |
| Debts/survival/other¶ | 13/248 | 5.2% | 7 | 6.8% | 6 | 4.1% | <0.01 |
| Duration in sex work (years) | 3 (1–8) | 5 (2–15) | 3 (1–4) | <0.001 | |||
| Where most often met clients in last 4 weeks | |||||||
| Flat | 160/254 | 63% | 74 | 71.8% | 86 | 56.9% | |
| Sauna | 54/254 | 21.3% | 10 | 9.7% | 44 | 29.1% | |
| Escort | 20/254 | 7.9% | 4 | 3.9% | 16 | 10.6% | |
| Bar/private/other** | 20/254 | 7.9% | 15 | 14.6% | 5 | 3.3% | <0.001 |
| Median % earnings kept for personal use on last working day | 50 (50–75) | 50 (50–75) | 50 (50–80) | 0.69 | |||
| Lifetime experience of drug use for non-medical reasons†† | 103/249 | 41.4% | 57 | 57.6% | 46 | 30.7% | <0.001 |
| Uses drugs‡‡ during or before sex work in last 4 weeks | 45/250 | 18.0% | 28 | 28.3% | 17 | 11.3% | <0.001 |
↵* p Value derived from χ2 tests or two-sample Wilcoxon Mann–Whitney tests. See online appendix for summary of sample size needed to detect a significant difference (80% power, 95% precision).
↵† 10 People were recruited via outreach referrals.
↵‡ This includes field workers' personal contacts or acquaintance and one recruit of unknown origin.
↵§ Other includes: hotel (6), working flat (11), homeless hostel (1), council flat (1), unspecified (1).
↵¶ Other defined as staying ahead/maintaining normal life (2).
↵** Other includes: street (3), regulars (1), variety (1).
↵†† This includes injecting or non-injecting.
↵‡‡ Drugs include: marijuana (10), ecstasy (1), opium (1), powder cocaine (20), crack (8), heroin (3), cocaine and heroin (1), prescription methadone (1).