Health-care provider challenges to the identification of human trafficking in health-care settings: A qualitative study (original) (raw)
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An estimated 18,000 individuals are trafficked into the United States each year from all over the world, and are forced into hard labor or commercial sex work. Despite their invisibility, some victims are known to have received medical care while under traffickers' control. Our project aimed to characterize trafficking victims' encounters in US health care settings. The study consisted of semi-structured interviews with six Key Informants who work closely with trafficking victims (Phase I) and 12 female trafficking survivors (Phase II). All survivors were recruited through the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, an NGO in Los Angeles, and all were trafficked into Los Angeles. Interviews were conducted in English and six other languages, with the assistance of professional interpreters. Using a framework analysis approach that focused on victims' encounters in health care settings, we assessed interview transcript content and coded for themes. We used an explora...
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Journal of human trafficking, 2019
Background: Awareness of Trafficking in Persons (TIP) is increasing and healthcare providers (HCP) are seeing increased numbers of trafficked persons (TP) in healthcare settings. Yet HCP report that they have insufficient training to adequately recognize, intervene, and appropriately refer TPs. Organizations have responded by creating HCP education on TIPs in varying degrees of length, quality, and content. Objective: To obtain consensus on HT curricular content for HCP and create a framework to guide the development of quality, evidence-based HCP education on TIPs. Methods: A mixed-methods two-round Delphi method was deployed to identify what content HT subject-matter experts deemed important for inclusion in HCP educational programs. Experts were recruited via purposive and snowball sampling. Data were analyzed qualitatively, using thematic analysis and quantitatively using the Individual Content Validity Index (ICVI). Results: Qualitative analysis identified 49 themes reflecting sub-content areas to be included in HCP education programs. Ten sub-content areas achieved perfect consensus with ICVIs of 1.0. Results are presented in a series: Article One-Expert results, Article two-Survivor results, and article three recommendations and guidelines for developing healthcare provider education programs. Conclusions: HT subject-matter expert consensus and the resulting framework, guidelines, and recommendations provide the first evidence-based framework to guide the development, deployment, and evaluation of HCP education on TIPs that is generalizable to organizations with varying resources, time allotted, and HCP audiences. KEYWORDS Human trafficking; mixedmethods; medical education; Delphi; trauma-informed care "The most troubling thing was that they just did not know what to do with me."-Survivor The Need for an Evidence-Based Framework to Guide the Development of Healthcare Provider Education Human trafficking (HT), also known as trafficking in persons (TIP), is an egregious human rights violation, victimizing an estimated 40 million individuals worldwide and has been recognized as a
Affilia, 2018
Much of the research on human trafficking focuses on the prosecution of traffickers and protection of survivors after the crime has occurred. Less is known about the social disparities that make someone vulnerable to trafficking. This project examines human trafficking from a preventive focus, using data from a case study of service providers working with at-risk populations in the Kansas City, MO-KS area. The research team conducted 42 in-depth interviews with service providers working in the medical, educational, legal, and social services sectors from 2013 to 2016. Participants identified risk factors that could make someone vulnerable to labor or sexual exploitation. These factors clustered into four key areas: economic insecurity, housing insecurity, education, and migration. The research findings also suggest that human trafficking may be driven by an accumulation of risk factors that move vulnerable persons closer to labor exploitation and sex trafficking, fitting with a chai...
Sexes
Human Trafficking (HT) persists in the US, despite multi-level measures designed to mitigate its societal costs. HT instruction for healthcare providers is growing, but there is a dearth of resources and training presenting obstacles for victims accessing suitable healthcare services. Voices of survivors are also scant in the literature, despite the fact that their recommendations would appear essential when designing best practices. This study aimed to methodically gather recommendations from sex trafficking (ST) survivors who sought medical care during their victimization. An exploratory concurrent mixed-methods design was used, and semi-structured interviews (N = 22) were conducted between March 2016 and March 2017, in San Diego, CA, and Philadelphia, PA. Data were analyzed through a coding system to identify meaningful analytical themes. Study participants were recruited through survivor-centered organizations, and their identification was kept anonymous and confidential. Findin...
Journal of human trafficking, 2019
Background: Awareness of Trafficking in Persons (TIP) is increasing and healthcare providers (HCP) are seeing increased numbers of trafficked persons (TP) in healthcare settings. Yet HCP report that they have insufficient training to adequately recognize, intervene, and appropriately refer TPs. Organizations have responded by creating HCP education on TIPs in varying degrees of length, quality, and content. Objective: To obtain consensus on HT curricular content for HCP and create a framework to guide the development of quality, evidence-based HCP education on TIPs. Methods: A mixed-methods two-round Delphi method was deployed to identify what content HT subject-matter experts deemed important for inclusion in HCP educational programs. Experts were recruited via purposive and snowball sampling. Data were analyzed qualitatively, using thematic analysis and quantitatively using the Individual Content Validity Index (ICVI). Results: Qualitative analysis identified 49 themes reflecting sub-content areas to be included in HCP education programs. Ten sub-content areas achieved perfect consensus with ICVIs of 1.0. Results are presented in a series: Article One-Expert results, Article two-Survivor results, and article three recommendations and guidelines for developing healthcare provider education programs. Conclusions: HT subject-matter expert consensus and the resulting framework, guidelines, and recommendations provide the first evidence-based framework to guide the development, deployment, and evaluation of HCP education on TIPs that is generalizable to organizations with varying resources, time allotted, and HCP audiences. KEYWORDS Human trafficking; mixedmethods; medical education; Delphi; trauma-informed care "The most troubling thing was that they just did not know what to do with me."-Survivor The Need for an Evidence-Based Framework to Guide the Development of Healthcare Provider Education Human trafficking (HT), also known as trafficking in persons (TIP), is an egregious human rights violation, victimizing an estimated 40 million individuals worldwide and has been recognized as a