HT-RADAR’s 2020 Human Trafficking Research Conference featured some of the most current national and regional research on human trafficking.  This one-day conference included keynotes from Ambassador John Cotton Richmond and Jessica Kim, 3 panels, and 18 presentations from organizations and universities such as HEAL Trafficking, Trauma Resource Institute, University of New England, and San Diego State University.  Over 500 attendees registered for the conference, representing a wide range of stakeholders and more than 175 organizations, agencies, and institutions.  Thank you to PLNU and our County of San Diego partner, the District Attorney’s Office, for helping to make this conference possible. To view more conference pictures, please visit: ht-radar.com.

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Next Quarterly Meeting: May 2020

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Systematic review of human trafficking educational interventions for health care providers

Hannah Fraley, PhD, RN, CNE, CPH; Teri Aronowitz,PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, FAAN; Hanni M. Stoklosa, MD, MPH

ABSTRACT

Human trafficking is a global population health threat. Trafficking minors threatens the safety and well-being of youth. Limited studies measure health care providers’ awareness and attitudes toward trafficking. This systematic review synthesized retrospective and current knowledge and identified gaps in educational interventions aimed at increasing providers’ awareness and attitudes toward trafficking. A systematic search of four databases identified peer-reviewed published papers between January 1, 2000 and September 1, 2018. The Cochrane Collaboration’s Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews was followed. Study quality was assessed using the Downs and Black checklist. The Psychometric Grading Framework was used to assess the validity of instruments. Findings across studies (N = 7) reveal providers (mostly social workers and physicians) have low awareness of trafficking and can have negative attitudes toward victims. Multiphase educational approaches and use of content experts, including survivors, in developing interventions enhanced sustainability of outcomes. Targeting multidisciplinary health care teams, including nurses, enhanced interventions.

Fraley, H. E., Aronowitz, T., & Stoklosa, H. M. (2020). Systematic review of human trafficking educational interventions for health care providers. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 42 (2), 131-142. doi: 10.1177/0193945919837366

Hannah Fraley, PhD, RN, CNE, CPH is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing, College of Health and Human Development, at California State University Fullerton. She received her PhD in Population Health from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her research program targets youth violence prevention and risk reduction. She uses community-based participatory research approaches with school faculty and survivors of trafficking nationally to illuminate labor and sex trafficking of youth in U.S. schools and build sustainable prevention programs through development of the frontline role of school faculty. Dr. Fraley is a National Leader for the National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation and serves on the Policy sub-committee. She also is a member of the American Public Health Association and serves on the School Health Education and Services Policy sub-committee. Dr. Fraley also provides expert consultation on child labor and sexual exploitation cases in the U.S.

Estimating demand for illicit massage businesses in Houston, Texas

Vanessa Bouché, PhD; Sean M Crotty, PhD

ABSTRACT

Illicit massage businesses are growing in number across the United States, yet they remain an understudied niche of the underground commercial sex economy despite implications for public health and criminal justice. This research fills an empirical gap in our understanding of illicit massage businesses by estimating actual demand for these businesses in one U.S. city, Houston, TX. We find that there are roughly 2,869 customers per day at illicit massage business in Houston, and that this yields total annual gross revenues of $107 million.

Bouché, V., & Crotty, S. M. (2017). Estimating demand for illicit massage businesses in Houston, Texas. Journal of Human Trafficking, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322705.2017.1374080.

Dr. Vanessa Bouché is an Associate Professor of Political Science at TCU.  She has been a principal investigator on several federally-funded human trafficking projects totaling over $1 million and is the founder of HumanTraffickingData.org, a searchable database of federally-prosecuted human trafficking cases in the U.S.  Dr. Bouché has conducted public opinion research on human trafficking in the U.S., Moldova, and Albania, and designed and deployed trauma informed surveys with survivors of human trafficking in the U.S. and Honduras. She consults with a variety of organizations, and has been an invited speaker by dozens of agencies nationally and internationally.  With her husband, Dr. Bouché co-founded Savhera, an essential oil company employing sex trafficking survivors in India and the U.S. She has received the Young Leader Award from the Texas Women’s Foundation, the Hero Award from Unlikely Heroes, and the Great Woman of Texas Award from Fort Worth Business Press.

Modeling the indicators of commercial sexual exploitation among system-involved youth

Danna Basson, PhD, MPP; Nick Nguyen; David Perry, MA; WestCoast Children’s Clinic

ABSTRACT

As the commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) of children receives more attention from practitioners and policymakers, researchers have focused attention on the risk factors for and indicators of exploitation among youth. This study investigates how combinations of indicators cluster together in the lives of vulnerable children and youth. We used Latent Class Analysis (LCA) on seven indicators of CSE to identify how indicators of exploitation cluster together. Our sample includes 35,946 youth who were screened for indicators of exploitation between 2014 and 2019, across 37 child welfare and juvenile justice agencies in California. Our findings show that there are key combinations of risk that children are exposed to, and that these combinations vary by gender and system involvement. Moreover, some profiles are more strongly predictive of exploitation. This suggests that it is beneficial to identify the key combinations of indicators that children present with rather than look at each indicator separately in order to improve the ability of practitioners to identify when exploitation is occurring.

Basson, D. (2017). Validation of the Commercial Sexual Exploitation- Identification Tool (CSE-IT) Technical Report. WestCoast Children’s Clinic. Oakland, CA. https://www.westcoastcc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/WCC-CSE-IT-PilotReport-FINAL.pdf

Danna Basson, PhD, MPP, is WestCoast Children’s Clinic’s Director of Research and Evaluation. Since joining WestCoast in 2012, she has conducted research to further understand the needs and strengths of sexually exploited children. She is the lead author on a community-based research study, Research to Action: Sexually Exploited Minors (SEM) Needs and Strengths, which is a clinical profile of sexually exploited youth. She is the Principal Investigator of the project to develop and validate WestCoast’s Commercial Sexual Exploitation – Identification Tool (CSE-IT). She is currently leading a study on how patterns of exposure to trauma are related to mental health needs. Dr. Basson has presented internationally on her work pertaining to sexually exploitation youth and the needs of vulnerable youth.

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Conferences

• • Freedom Network USA Human Trafficking Conference, March 18-19, 2020 in Miami, FL
    • https://freedomnetworkusa.org/training/conference/
  • Now and Next, May 27-28, 2020 in Washington D.C.
    • https://www.worldwithoutexploitation.org/events/now-next-2020
  • 25th International Summit on Violence, Abuse & Trauma Across the Lifespan, Aug 30 – Sept 2, 2020 in San Diego, CA
    • https://www.ivatcenters.org/san-diego-summit
  • University of Toledo’s International Human Trafficking & Social Justice Conference, Sept 24-25, 2020 in Toledo, OH
    • https://www.traffickingconference.com/
  • APHA 2020 Annual Meeting & Expo, Oct 24-28, 2020 in San Francisco, CA
    • https://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
  • 2020 JuST Conference, Nov 4-6, 2020 in Washington, D.C.
    • https://www.justconference.org/just-2020/

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