Human Trafficking: Victim Identification for Medical Providers through Video Dramatization and Presentation

Each year, over 14,000 individuals in the U.S. become victims of Human Trafficking. Human Trafficking includes both sex and labor trafficking, and involves force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjecting an individual to involuntary servitude or slavery. Identification of human trafficking victims remains elusive due to the extremely controlled and isolated environment victims find themselves in, and the enormous profit gained by traffickers. To address this issue, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provided a grant to the Arizona Family Health Partnership (AFHP) to develop a human trafficking awareness project aimed at educating health care providers on ways to identify victims of human trafficking. As first responders, health providers can make all the difference for the thousands of victims moving through public health clinics yearly. Collaborating with the International Rescue Committee -Phoenix and Arizona League to End Regional Trafficking (ALERT) a training video for providers was created. The video included interviews with local law enforcement and health care providers, dramatization of a victim visiting a health clinic for services, and a presentation of the indicators providers need to look for with trafficking victims. Interventions, assessment, reporting methods, services, and resources were also included. A pre and post test was administered prior to and immediately following the video viewing. Results showed an overall increase of 20% in knowledge gain from pre to post test including a 17% increase in distinguishing between human trafficking and smuggling, 24% increase in identifying victimization indicators, and 24% increase in identifying resources.