Abstract
Background: Human trafficking is a crime that commonly results in acute and chronic physical and psychological harm. To foster more informed health sector responses to human trafficking, training sessions for health care providers were developed and pilot-tested in the Middle East, Central America, and the Caribbean. This study presents the results of an investigation into what health care providers knew and needed to know about human trafficking as part of that training program.Methods: Participants attended one of seven two-day training courses in Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Costa Rica, Egypt, El Salvador, Guyana, and Jordan. We assessed participants’ knowledge about human trafficking and opinions about appropriate responses in trafficking cases via questionnaires pre-training, and considered participant feedback about the training post-training.Results: 178 participants attended the trainings. Pre-training questionnaires were completed by 165 participants (93%) and post-training questionnaires by 156 participants (88%). Pre-training knowledge about health and human trafficking appeared generally high for topics such as the international nature of trafficking and the likelihood of poor mental health outcomes among survivors. However, many participants had misconceptions about the characteristics of trafficked persons and a provider’s role in responding to cases of trafficking. The most valued training components included the “Role of the Health Provider,” “Basic Definitions and Concepts,” and “Health Consequences of Trafficking.”Discussion: Training health care providers on caring for trafficked persons has the potential to improve practitioners’ knowledge about human trafficking and its health consequences, and to increase safe practices when responding in cases of trafficking. This study provides lessons for the design of training programs on human trafficking that aim to help health care providers identify and refer victims, and provide care for survivors.
Highlights
It is estimated that there are approximately 21 million adults and children in situations of forced labor, bonded labor, and forced prostitution around the world as a result of human trafficking [1]
An approximately equal number of participants from each of the seven countries completed the questionnaires: the pretraining questionnaires were completed by 29 people in Antigua, 19 people in Belize, 18 people in Costa Rica, 27 people in Egypt, people in El Salvador, people in Guyana, and 27 people in Jordan
(37) Because of the great likelihood that trafficked persons will require health services both while they are in a trafficking situation and once they have been released, there is every reason to invest in capacity-building of health care providers as a means to improve the well-being and safety of trafficked persons and related populations
Summary
It is estimated that there are approximately 21 million adults and children in situations of forced labor, bonded labor, and forced prostitution around the world as a result of human trafficking [1]. Trafficking is frequently associated with repetitive physical and psychological violence, rape, confinement, and deprivation, which have been associated with a range of mental and physical health problems [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12] The nature of these trafficking-related abuses makes it likely that many, if not most survivors will emerge with multiple health, social and legal service needs. With the growing identification and referral of trafficking survivors into recovery services, there is a pressing need for specialized guidance for health professionals, especially for care providers in areas with high numbers of migrant workers and exploitative labor sectors who might come into contact with vulnerable populations that could include victims of trafficking [16,17,18]. Participants were asked to complete a survey before and after the 2-day training
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
