Globally, Female Sex Workers (FSW) face significant mental health challenges, including depression, anxiety, suicidal tendencies, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and substance use. Recent surveillance conducted by icddr,b highlighted significant mental health concerns among FSW in Jashore city, including feelings of depression, anxiety, stress, suicide attempts, and self-harm.
However, the surveillance lacked standardised psychometric measures. With pervasive violence and exploitation, there is an urgent need for a detailed exploration of FSW mental health in Bangladesh. Recognising these critical knowledge and intervention gaps, this proposed study aims to comprehensively investigate mental health conditions among FSW and develop and evaluate an integrated mental health intervention tailored to the unique needs of FSW in Bangladesh. This study will adopt a quasi-experimental study design applying both qualitative and quantitative methods. The intervention and comparison sites will be Jashore and Faridpur, respectively. The study will follow three phases within a standard operational research (OR) framework.
