Contraceptive use, risky sexual behaviors, and HIV risk behaviors among migrant female sex workers working in nightclubs in Northern Cyprus (Preprint)

<sec> <title>UNSTRUCTURED</title> The purpose of this study is to investigate the contraceptive use, risky sexual behaviors, and HIV risk behaviors among migrant Female Sex Workers (FSWs) working in nightclubs. This research was modelled based on the pattern of descriptive, relations-seeking. The population of this study consists of women who work in nightclubs in Northern Cyprus and go to the venereal disease polyclinic of a hospital for health check-ups. The sample size for this study consisted of 384 women. Data were collected face-to-face by the researcher between June 29 and August 10, 2022.The data of this study were analyzed using descriptive statistics tests, the Kruskal-Wallis H test, and the Spearman test. It was found that almost half of migrant FSWs (52.8%) are 18-25 years old, and 46.1% of them are a university or master’s/PhD-educated. It was determined that most of the women (74.3%) used condoms as a contraceptive method. In this study, it was found that women took low points (9.70±3.67, min. 0-max. 20) from the Sexual Risk Behaviors Scale and low points (10.27±4.20, min. 0-max. 25) from the HIV Risk-Taking Behaviors Scale. It was determined that women’s Sexual Risk Behaviors Scale total scores increase, and the HIV Risk-Taking Behaviors Scale scores with the subscale points also increase statistically significantly (r=0.961, p=0.01). The FSWs’ sexual risk behaviors are related to HIV risk-taking behaviors. It is suggested that more research should be conducted on accessing reproductive health services among FSWs. </sec>