Health correlates of injuries and violence among female employees of an adult entertainment club

Background: Over 500,000 U.S. women work in adult entertainment clubs, work described as ardous and potentially unsafe.

Objectives: To 1) characterize the prevalence and nature of occupational injuries and violence among adult club employees and 2) to examine the relationship between workplace injuries and violence and other health-related factors, including substance use and healthcare access.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study of female employees of one adult entertainment club in Providence, RI, subjects completed a standardized, computer-based health survey. We examined characteristics of the sample descriptively (means, proportions), and performed univariate analyses (chi square, t-tests) comparing groups with and without history of injuries or violence.

Results: 69 women were surveyed. 30% had experienced workplace violence, including sexual (28%) and physical assault (9%); 29% had been injured at work in the past year. Women who used drugs at work were more likely to have been injured (40% vs 16%, p=0.04). Women who experienced violence at work were more likely to be uninsured (43% vs. 69%, 0.04) and to have deferred seeing a doctor because of cost (52% vs 25%, p=0.03). Those with workplace injuries or violence had higher alcohol use (59% vs 34% for both), although this was not statistically significant.

Conclusions: Our results confirm the high prevalence of workplace injuries and violence in this population and an association between modifiable behaviors and workplace safety. Future studies may include larger samples size and more detailed narrative.