Stigma as a Barrier to Mental Health Service Use Among Female Sex Workers in Switzerland.

Front Psychiatry

Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital, University of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland.

Published: February 2019

Many sex workers suffer from mental health problems, but do not seek help. To examine stigma-related and non stigma-related barriers to care and perceived need for treatment among female sex workers in Switzerland. Mental health service use, barriers to care, perceived need and presence of illness, symptoms, and psychiatric diagnoses were assessed among 60 female sex workers in Zürich, Switzerland. Mental health service use was defined as use of psychiatric medication, psychotherapy, or substance use services for at least 1 month during the past 6 months. Adjusting for symptom levels, mental health service use was predicted by lower stigma-related, not by structural, barriers as well as by more perceived need for treatment and higher age. Sex workers with mental health problems would benefit from non-stigmatizing mental health care as well as from interventions to reduce public and self-stigma associated with mental illness and sex work. Limitations are the cross-sectional data, limited sample size, and recruitment from an information center for sex workers. Interventions that aim to increase mental health service use among sex workers should take stigma variables into account.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6370716PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00032DOI Listing

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