The social representation of smoking for female sex workers and their prevalence

Abstract

Currently, smoking is no longer considered a habit and was seen as a disease, an epidemic that can be completely preventable. Knowing the profile of users, such as the prevalence and tobacco consumption levels and the social representation, economic and smoking culture is fundamental to plan more effective prevention actions in certain populations, such as the sex professionals (SP). Objective: To analyze the social representation of smoking for female sex workers and their prevalence. Method: This is a descriptive study of qualitative and quantitative developed in two stages (step I - quantitative study; step II - study qualitative). The study included the SP women who work in Botucatu, Brazil. There were applied forms related to step I of study in 83 omen an PS on the step II, were semi structures only conduct interviews with women smokers, corresponding to 59 women. The dates were systematized by the Collective Subject Discourse and theoretical framework utilize was the Theory of Social Representations. Results: The mean age was 26.8% years, 94% live alone, among the participants 71.1% are smokers and 6% ex-smokers, 89.2% use of alcohol and 51.8% use some kind of drug. Of interviews, four categories emerged; 1) Representation Chemistry and Psychological tobacco; 2) Social smoking representation; 3) Contradictions between smoking and the profession; 4) Contradictions between smoking and the profession; 4) Contradiction of tobacco use. Conclusions: The prevalence of tobacco was increase in SP and the social representations of tobacco proved favored by aspects inherent to the lifestyle of sex workers.