Prospero Project Condom Study, San Francisco, 1989-1991
Investigators: Dan Waldorf and David Lauderback

The Prospero Project Condom Study, San Francisco, 1989-1991, which was conducted between December 1989 and April 1991, explored condom use in 552 male sex workers in San Francisco _ men who are at high risk to contract and spread the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Investigators employed face-to-face interviews to gather detailed information about the conditions (e.g., type of partner, type of sexual activity) under which condoms were and were not used. In addition, the investigators sought to quantify the amount of condom failure (i.e., breakage and/or slippage) in this population. This data set includes information on 736 variables across 552 cases. Respondents were identified through a combination of methods and represented two general types of male sex workers: ``Street hustlers'' (n=226), men who solicit clients face-to-face in public places such as certain streets, bars, or erotic bookstores, and ``Call men'' (n = 326), men who solicit clients over the telephone and operate from a list of clients and/or advertise services in newspapers and magazines. Within these two general types of male sex workers, investigators further specified six sub- types. Two former sex workers were hired by the investigators to interview respondents. Interviews gathered: (1) self-reports about the number of sexual partners and condom use during specific sexual activities during the previous week; (2) estimates of the frequency of condom use in general (i.e., for the last month and for the last year); (3) estimates of the frequency of condom failure (i.e., breakage and/or slippage) over the last week, the last month, and the last year; and (4) the conditions under which condom failure occurred. In addition, demographic data (age, religious affiliation, ethnicity, level of education); self-reported sexual identification (e.g., gay, bisexual, transvestite, transsexual); and HIV status were obtained for respondents.