Table 1.
Recent sex work, sociodemographic characteristics, and study involvement at the COPE study baseline (October 2017 – August 2019) among Thai MSM and TGW who exchanged sex in the prior 12 months (n=890).
| Total | Indication of sex work in last 30 days from any question | Indication of sex work from primary or secondary questions | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No (n=460) | Yes (n=430) | Primary (n=270) | Secondary only (n=160) | |||||||||
| n | (%) | n | (%) | n | (%) | p | n | (%) | n | (%) | p | |
| Years of age | 0.28 | 0.15 | ||||||||||
| 18–20 | 200 | (22) | 110 | (24) | 90 | (21) | 50 | (19) | 40 | (25) | ||
| 21–23 | 381 | (43) | 186 | (41) | 195 | (45) | 121 | (45) | 74 | (46) | ||
| 24–26 | 308 | (35) | 163 | (36) | 145 | (34) | 99 | (37) | 46 | (29) | ||
| Currently at school | 470 | (53) | 255 | (55) | 215 | (50) | 0.15 | 126 | (47) | 89 | (56) | 0.084 |
| Completed university education | 471 | (53) | 242 | (53) | 229 | (53) | 0.64 | 150 | (56) | 79 | (49) | 0.073 |
| Income from work (not sex work; full-time or part-time) | 612 | (71) | 307 | (69) | 305 | (72) | 0.53 | 197 | (75) | 108 | (68) | 0.29 |
| Sufficient income to meet basic needs most or all of month | 781 | (89) | 404 | (89) | 377 | (89) | 0.86 | 242 | (91) | 135 | (86) | 0.12 |
| Currently in a relationship | 334 | (38) | 174 | (38) | 160 | (37) | 0.58 | 88 | (33) | 72 | (45) | 0.012 |
| Gender identity | 0.12 | 0.90 | ||||||||||
| Man, gay, or bisexual | 788 | (89) | 418 | (92) | 370 | (87) | 231 | (87) | 139 | (87) | ||
| Woman or transgender woman | 78 | (9) | 30 | (7) | 48 | (11) | 30 | (11) | 18 | (11) | ||
| Other or don’t know | 15 | (2) | 8 | (2) | 7 | (2) | 5 | (2) | 2 | (1) | ||
| Study Site | <0.001 | 0.90 | ||||||||||
| Silom Community Clinic (SCC) | 503 | (57) | 232 | (50) | 271 | (63) | 166 | (61) | 105 | (66) | ||
| Service Workers in Group Bangkok (SWING BKK) | 146 | (16) | 106 | (23) | 40 | (9) | 21 | (8) | 19 | (12) | ||
| Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand (RSAT) | 211 | (24) | 111 | (24) | 100 | (23) | 69 | (26) | 31 | (19) | ||
| Service Workers in Group Pattaya (SWING Pattaya) | 30 | (3) | 11 | (2) | 19 | (4) | 14 | (5) | 5 | (3) | ||
| Learned about study through social media* | 297 | (33) | 155 | (34) | 142 | (33) | 0.69 | 79 | (29) | 63 | (39) | 0.031 |
| Learned about study through outreach, poster, or flyer* | 216 | (24) | 110 | (24) | 106 | (25) | 0.12 | 65 | (24) | 41 | (26) | 0.66 |
| Learned about study through friend or person at venue* | 406 | (46) | 195 | (42) | 211 | (49) | 0.28 | 139 | (51) | 72 | (45) | 0.25 |
Note: MSM = men who have sex with men; TGW = transgender women. Primary question for sex work: “In the last 30 days, have you sold or traded sex?” Secondary questions for sex work: “In the last 30 days, what were your sources of income?”; “Is transactional sex your primary source of income?”; “In the last 30 days, if you have sold or exchanged sex, where did you meet your partner(s)?”; “In the last 7 days, with how many partners did you have anal sex in exchange for money, drugs or anything else of value?”
Multiple response selections allowed for this question