en Health Health Original Research Original Research <strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong><strong>&nbsp; Background: </strong>An adequate perception of the degree to which one is at risk of having or contracting HIV is necessary for behavioural change and the adoption of safe behaviours. There are limited data regarding HIV risk perceptions among female sex workers in Iran. This study aimed to determine the HIV risk perception status and its association with sexual behaviours among female sex workers in Tehran.<br> &nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>Methods:</strong> A cross sectional study was conducted among 170 female sex workers in Tehran. Participants were recruited using a combination of snowball, purposeful, and convenience sampling methods. Multiple logistic regression was used to identify adjusted associations between background factors, sexual behaviours, and HIV risk perception. The analysis was conducted by the &ldquo;logistf&rdquo; package in the R statistical system. P-value less than .05 was considered as statistically significant.<br> <strong>&nbsp;&nbsp; Results:</strong> Among the participants, 122 (77%) reported high HIV risk perception. Most female sex workers with high HIV risk perception reported that they did not consistently use condoms (n=120, 98%. Female sex workers with a higher frequency of sex work (AOR=1.18, 95% CI: 1.08, 1.31), inconsistent condom use (AOR=0.15, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.66),&nbsp; a history of HIV testing (AOR=5.1, 95% CI: 1.2, 26.0), and low HIV knowledge (AOR=0.97, 95% CI=0.95, 0.996) were more likely to report high HIV risk perception.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>Conclusion:</strong> Most female sex workers with risky sexual behaviours had a high HIV risk perception. Effective educational programs are suggested to enable female sex workers to correctly assess their own HIV risk and change risk behaviors based on self-assessment of actual risk.<br> &nbsp; HIV risk perception, Sexual behaviours, HIV/AIDS, Female sex workers 608 614 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-4407-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Zahra Jorjoran Shushtari jorjoran.z@gmail.com 200319475328460062425 200319475328460062425 No Social Determinants of Health Research Center & Student Research Committee, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran Seyed Ali Hosseini seyedalihosseini1@outlook.com 200319475328460062426 200319475328460062426 Yes Social Determinants of Health Research Center, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran Homeira Sajjadi safaneh_s@yahoo.com 200319475328460062427 200319475328460062427 No Social Welfare Management Research Center, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran Yahya Salimi Salimiyahya@yahoo.com 200319475328460062428 200319475328460062428 No Social Development and Health Promotion Research Center, Health institute, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran Armita Shahesmaeili a.shahesmaeili@gmail.com 200319475328460062429 200319475328460062429 No HIV/STI Surveillance Research Center, and WHO Collaborating Center for HIV Surveillance, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran Tom A.B. Snijders tom.snijders@nuffield.ox.ac.uk 200319475328460062430 200319475328460062430 No Department of Sociology, University of Groningen, 9712 TG Groningen, Netherlands & Nuffield College, University of Oxford, OX1 1NF Oxford, United Kingdom