Qualitative assessment of venues for purposive sampling of hard-to-reach youth: an illustration in a Latino community.
BACKGROUND
Latino youth suffer disproportionately from unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), but studies of the social context of their sexual behaviors are lacking.


OBJECTIVE
Our qualitative assessment of recruitment venues in a Latino neighborhood had 3 objectives: to identify venues where youth at risk of unintended pregnancy and STIs could be found; to describe different youth "crowds"; and to investigate how and where youth meet their sex partners.


METHODS
We conducted ethnographic interviews with 62 youth recruited primarily from street sites. Mapping of venues was conducted with Map-Info.


RESULTS
Youth crowds included the Regulars, gang-related crowds, street-economy affiliated crowds, and female crowds. Maps demonstrated the dominance of the venues in the Mission by gang members. Street sites are important venues for meeting sexual partners.


CONCLUSIONS
The qualitative assessment produced insights and hypotheses that can contribute to the planning of research, outreach, testing, and interventions with Latino youth.
Auerswald
Colette L
CL
Division of Adolescent Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143, USA.
Greene
Karen
K
Minnis
Alexandra
A
Doherty
Irene
I
Ellen
Jonathan
J
Padian
Nancy
N
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012495:San Francisco / Q000453:epidemiology; D012747:Sexual Partners; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000635:transmission*; D012944:Social Support