| dc.description.abstract | Many Human Trafficking (HT) survivors report health-related complications and report seeking medical treatment while being trafficked. Yet, many go unrecognized despite their frequent interaction with healthcare providers. As part of our efforts to better understand the types of HT socio-technical interventions needed for early recognition and assistance of trafficked patients, we are identifying and evaluating the people, processes, and technologies involved in healthcare-based interventions. First, we conducted a scoping review to examine currently implemented human trafficking interventions in U.S. healthcare settings and how technology is leveraged. We identified 12 documents and found that the majority of interventions were implemented in the emergency department (n=8), focused on sex trafficking (n=7), and used screening tools to identify trafficked persons (n=10). Several screening tools were embedded into the electronic health record (n=4), and a limited subset of studies used clinical decision support strategies (n=2) if a patient screened positive. Secondly, we conducted a needs assessment in existing approaches to identify and assist trafficked individuals in TN healthcare settings. We interviewed 19 healthcare and community group professionals and identified 4 themes centered around trust building and patient safety. We found that participants felt a duty to build trust with patients in traumatic situations, and used numerous strategies to foster trust during patient encounters. Technology was identified as both a barrier and facilitator to trust building, and played an important role in ensuring patient safety in and out of the hospital setting. Both studies underscored that technology played a crucial role in early recognition and assisting of trafficked individuals, and that designing meaningful tools, with the involvement of stakeholders, is an essential factor in how we combat trafficking in healthcare. | |
