Adult Human Trafficking Screening Tool Impact on Victim Identification

Abstract

Human trafficking (HT) victims can be difficult for healthcare providers (HCPs) to identify. At the project site, potential victims of HT were not being screened or identified, so an evidence-based solution was sought. The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental quality improvement project was to determine if or to what degree the implementation of the Macias-Konstantopoulos and Owens adult human trafficking screening tool (AHTST) would impact identification and referral of potential HT victims to social work when compared to current practice among adult patients in an emergency department (ED) in urban California over four weeks. Jean Watson’s theory of human caring and Kurt Lewin’s change theory provided the project’s theoretical underpinnings. The total sample size was N = 10,437; n = 5,087 in the comparison group and n = 5,350 in the implementation group. Data were extrapolated from the AHTST. To analyze the comparison and implementation group data for the identification of potential HT victims, a chi-square test was used, and results showed X² (1, N = 10,437) = 1.90, p = .168, which were not statistically significant. For the referrals for potential HT victims from the comparison group to the implementation group, the results showed X² (1, N = 2) = 2.00, p = .080, which were not statistically significant. The clinical significance of the project was supported by improvement in identification from 0% to 0.04% and referral rates from 0% to 100%. Recommendations included continuing the project over a longer period of time with a larger sample size.