Published on Authors of this article:. Background: In many countries, sex work is criminalized, driving sex work underground and leaving sex workers vulnerable to a number of occupational health and safety risks, including violence, assault, and robbery.
With the advent of widely accessible information and communication technologies ICTs , sex workers have begun to use electronic occupational health and safety tools to mitigate these risks. Objective: This study aims to explore the use of ICTs by sex workers for managing occupational health and safety risks and strategies for reducing these risks.
Methods: A literature review following the methodological framework for scoping reviews was conducted to analyze studies describing the use of ICTs by sex workers to mitigate occupational health and safety risks. Experimental, observational, and descriptive studies, as well as protocol papers, were included in this scoping review. Results: Of the articles initially identified, 41 1.
Conclusions: Although there has been an increase in the number of studies on the use of ICTs by sex workers for managing occupational health and safety over the past 5 years, knowledge of how to optimally leverage ICTs for this purpose remains scarce. Recommendations for expanding the use of ICTs by sex workers for occupational health and safety include external organizations collaborating with sex workers in the design of ICT interventions to mitigate occupational health and safety risks; to examine whether ICTs used in low- and middle-income countries would have applications in high-income countries as a substitute to the internet for sharing occupational health and safety strategies; and to explore the creation of innovative, secure, web-based communities that use existing or alternative digital technologies that could be used by sex workers to manage their occupational health and safety.
Sex workers encounter a number of occupational health and safety risks. In Germany [ 1 ], Thailand [ 2 ], Ireland [ 3 ], Israel [ 4 ], Cambodia [ 5 ], and Canada [ 6 - 8 ], studies have reported that sex workers are subjected to violence, assault, and harassment.
