Human trafficking has increased worldwide. Nurse practitioners practice in a variety of clinical settings and may encounter trafficking victims within their clinical practice. Therefore, it is essential nurse practitioners have the ability to identify and assist trafficking victims. However, human trafficking is not fully integrated into nurse practitioner curriculum. In addition, a lack of evidence exists regarding best practice for curriculum content to increase knowledge of trafficking. This project assessed family and pediatric nurse practitioner knowledge of human trafficking in six primary areas: (1) definitions, (2) laws, (3) prevalence, (4) identification, (5) treatment, and (6) community resources.
Methods:
A one-hour educational intervention focused on each of the six primary areas. The intervention was designed for family and pediatric nurse practitioner students enrolled at a large university. The intervention included a lecture driven by the use of power points, videos, and discussion. Measurement of student knowledge of trafficking was assessed through the use of pre- and post-surveys. Each survey consisted of six Likert-style items measured on a 6-24 point scale. Demographic data collected on all participants included age, gender, years of experience, and previous exposure to trafficking education.
Results:
Student participants (n=73) completed the demographic and pre-survey. Post-survey tool completion fell slightly (n=69). Demographic data revealed participants included more female students (n=64, 87.7%) compared to male students (n=7, 9.6%). A small number of participants did not identify gender preference (n=2, 2.7%). Participants ranged in age between 20 and 59 years of age. Years of nursing experience ranged between 0 and 25 years. Overwhelmingly, most students reported they had never received formalized education on human trafficking (n=69, 94.5%) or education on the treatment of human trafficking victims (n=73, 100%).
Following the intervention, a t-test analysis provided insight into increases in knowledge. All survey questions demonstrated increases in knowledge with t-test outcomes ranging from 11.85 to 20.78 with p < .05. Three survey questions demonstrated the greatest increase in participants’ knowledge: (1) knowledge of laws regarding human trafficking; (2) ability to identifying victims of human trafficking; and (3) knowledge of community and social service resources for victims of human trafficking.
Conclusion:
A gap was identified in family and pediatric nurse practitioner students’ knowledge of human trafficking. An educational intervention increased student’s knowledge of human trafficking. Inclusion of trafficking into nurse practitioner curricula increases the number of providers with knowledge to positively impact health outcomes of the victims.