Answered Questions

Since you're in the health sciences, start at one of our Health and Sciences LibGuides like Nursing (http://libguides.brenau.edu/nursing) or Occupational Therapy (http://libguides.brenau.edu/OT). Each LibGuide Research Guide includes a yellow tab at the top for Articles. Click the tab, and you'll see a list of databases in which to search for your topic.

Click on a database like MEDLINE with Full Text. (You'll log in with your Brenau username and password.)

In the search box, type in your search terms. Try combinations of sex, substance, abuse, and transaction or exchange. In MEDLINE, I used this search: sex AND substance AND (transaction OR exchange). (AND tells the database that all results must have both connected terms in it. OR with the two terms in parentheses tells the database that either transaction or exchange is okay, since they mean the same thing in this context.)

After searching for sex AND substance AND (transaction OR exchange) in MEDLINE, you'll find results like these:

Reuben, J., Serio-Chapman, C., Welsh, C., Matens, R., & Sherman, S. (2011). Correlates of current transactional sex among a sample of female exotic dancers in Baltimore, MD. Journal Of Urban Health: Bulletin Of The New York Academy Of Medicine, 88(2), 342-351. doi:10.1007/s11524-010-9539-0

Davey-Rothwell, M., & Latkin, C. (2008). An examination of perceived norms and exchanging sex for money or drugs among women injectors in Baltimore, MD, USA. International Journal Of STD & AIDS, 19(1), 47-50. doi:10.1258/Ijsa.2007.007123

Bornovalova, M., Daughters, S., & Lejuez, C. (2010). Motivations for sexual risk behavior across commercial and casual partners among male urban drug users: contextual features and clinical correlates. Behavior Modification, 34(3), 219-246. doi:10.1177/0145445510364414

Pinkham, S., & Malinowska-Sempruch, K. (2008). Women, harm reduction and HIV. Reproductive Health Matters, 16(31), 168-181. doi:10.1016/S0968-8080(08)31345-7

All of these articles discuss specific studies involving the circumstances of individuals exchanging sex for substances and should be helpful for your topic! After viewing the results in MEDLINE, return to the LibGuide and run the same search in another database like CINAHL or ScienceDirect. Each database has its own collection of material, so you may find new articles in each one!