Study Design and Procedure

This qualitative study was conducted from January to April 2017 in Belu and Malaka districts, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Data were collected using one-on-one in-depth interviews with male clients of FCSWs. The inclusion criteria were individuals who were men 18 years old and above and who have had sex with FCSWs. The participants were recruited using a snowball sampling technique. Four initial participants were recruited with the help of a staff member of a nongovernmental organization (NGO) providing HIV/AIDS services in the districts and who knew that they were clients of FCSWs. They were asked to circulate the information sheet containing the researchers’ contact details and information about this study among their colleagues who would be willing to participate in the study. Initially, 18 participants contacted the researchers in the following 3 weeks and took part in the study. These participants did send information to their networks and a further 20 participants agreed to be interviewed for the study. We interviewed a total of 42 participants and collected enough data to explain condom use behavioral patterns among the clients of FCSWs (Corbin & Strauss, 1990).

Each interview took place at a time and private place recommended by each participant. All the participants were informed about the purpose of the study through the initial information sheet and on the interview day. Participants were informed that the study had been approved by the Medicine Research Ethics Committee, Duta Wacana Christian University, Indonesia (ref: 386/C.16/FK/2017). They were also informed that the information they were providing would be confidential and each of them would be assigned a unique Study Identification Number to prevent the possibility to link back the data or information to an individual in the future. Before the interviews, each participant was advised that the interview would be recorded and would take approximately take 45 to 90 min and that his participation was voluntary and he may decide to quit without any consequences if he feels uncomfortable about the topics being asked during the interview. To demonstrate that each interviewee had willingly agreed to participate, he signed and returned a written informed consent prior to commencing the interview. Each participant was provided with IDR 100 (=USD 8) to reimburse for their time and transport. It was not an incentive. Light snacks were also provided after the interview.