title: Effectiveness of Culturally Appropriate Initiative on Drug-Related Harm Reduction for Sex Workers on the Thai/Malaysian Border.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Drug use can harm to sex workers. Abstinence intervention, however, may not be appropriate since drug use fosters their career performance. The objective was to develop the culturally appropriate model for sex workers participation on drug demand reduction at the Thailand/Malaysian border
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was a pre-post quasi-experimental design. Tripartite participation was used to develop the model aiming to reduce harm regarding drug use. The study carried out during June 2010-May 2011. Data were collected from 150 key informant interviews, 56 focus group discussions, 22 participant observations in various situations, and numerous related materials. Descriptive statistics, survival analysis and 95% confidence interval were utilizedfor quantitative data. Qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Drug related harm reduction was evaluated at two-week time along implementation period of 12 months. 89.5% of all sessions introduced could decrease drug related harm. Of all sex workers participated in the study, intended to treat analysis showed 86.9% success rate (95% CI; 77.1, 96.7). Of these, 32.6% became abstinence, 39.1% reduced most of drug related harm. 13.0% reduced partial drug related harm either lessfrequency, less quantity, less concentration, decrease types of drugs/switch to safe drugs or safer method of administration. 2.2% was infancy stage, which needed further support.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Key success ofthe model was tripartite participation. With active leaders and strong support, sex workers were continually motivated to reduce harm regarding drug use.
authors.forename: Worapol
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Nunun
authors.forename: Manop
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kanato
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D054521:Cultural Competency; D005260:Female; D040261:Harm Reduction; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia / Q000453:epidemiology; D009042:Motivation; D012309:Risk-Taking; D060386:Sex Workers / Q000523:psychology*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D013785:Thailand / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult