Economic and Social Empowerment To Increase Upwards Mobility Among Women

NCT02266108 | Completed Results DMC

• 1 other identifier: 140523
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 151
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The proposed research aims to pilot a multi-strategy structural intervention combining community mobilization to promote gender equity alongside an economic intervention (microfinance and business training) in order to reduce gender-based violence and HIV risk among female sex workers (FSW) in Tijuana, Mexico. The program will be called ESTIMA: "Economic and Social Empowerment To Increase Upwards Mobility Among Women." The evaluation will employ a randomized controlled design, recruiting FSW (n=120, 60 in each arm) who will be randomized to: 1) ESTIMA (gender equity/community mobilization program and economic intervention) or 2) a wait-list control group. For this preliminary work, at 12 months follow-up, we hypothesize that compared to control participants, intervention participants will have: 1) significantly greater economic security (e.g. decreased debt, increased income, decreased number of sex trades) and 2) significantly greater perceived collective power (i.e. collective efficacy) to address gendered power imbalances within social structures and the community. The long-term goal of this program, upon future refinement and large scale implementation, is to reduce HIV risk behaviors, STI/HIV, GBV, and ultimately, alleviate a multitude of health burdens among women. Furthermore, we expect that such work will highlight the need for HIV prevention initiatives in Mexico, and elsewhere, to more broadly consider women's 'life contexts' - addressing economic and social burdens in women's lives, to reduce the burden of poverty, gender, and HIV, as well as the intersection of these among women.

Conditions

Sexually Transmitted Infections; Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Keywords

Sexually Transmitted Infections; Female Sex Workers

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Number of Participants With Decreased Economic Vulnerability

  Economic vulnerability was measured by asking women about several financial challenges creating urgency in their work. We also measured income.

  12 months

• Number of Participants With Increased Collective Efficacy

  improved reported support from other women; increased sense of unity within group, increased sense of belonging

  12 months

• Decreased Sexually Transmitted Infections

  decreased reported Sexually Transmitted Infections

  6 months

Study Arms (2)

ESTIMA intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

This group is randomized to receive the ESTIMA intervention and will be followed for 12 months for follow-up.

Behavioral: ESTIMA Intervention

Wait-list control

OTHER

This group will receive standard of care (education as well as referrals to testing and treatment). After 12 months of follow-up, this group will receive the ESTIMA intervention.

Behavioral: ESTIMA Intervention

Interventions

ESTIMA Intervention BEHAVIORAL

This study involves the evaluation of ESTIMA, a microfinance and gender equity intervention among women working as sex workers in Tijuana, Mexico.

ESTIMA intervention; Wait-list control

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: female
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Biologically female,
• At least 18 years old,
• Ability to Speak English or Spanish
• Report having exchanged sex for money, goods, shelter or drugs within the last month,
• Live in Tijuana or its suburbs and have no plans to permanently move over the next 18 months
• Willing and able to provide informed consent
• Agree to receive antibiotic treatment for Chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis if they test positive

You may not qualify if:

• Not be a part of a recent behavioral intervention.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of California, San Diego: lead

Study Sites (1)

Los Ninos De Baja California

Tijuana, Estado de Baja California, Mexico

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Communicable Diseases; Infections; Genital Diseases; Urogenital Diseases; Disease Attributes; Pathologic Processes; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; HIV Infections; Blood-Borne Infections; Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral; Lentivirus Infections; Retroviridae Infections; RNA Virus Infections; Virus Diseases; Slow Virus Diseases; Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes; Immune System Diseases

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Elizabeth Reed, Associate Professor
• Organization: UCSDMED

elizared7@gmail.com

5082121517

Study Officials

• Elizabeth Reed, ScD

  University of California, San Diego

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: Yes

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: October 10, 2014
• First Posted: October 16, 2014
• Study Start: August 1, 2014
• Primary Completion: September 30, 2018
• Study Completion: September 30, 2018
• Last Updated: November 4, 2019
• Results First Posted: November 4, 2019

Record last verified: 2019-10

Locations

ME (1)