Pimps, Prostitutes, and Providers: How Educating Healthcare Providers Impacts Beliefs, Knowledge, and Perceptions on Sex Trafficking

Human trafficking is a widespread global health issue impacting communities both locally and globally. Despite its prevalence in our world, there is a lack of education amongst healthcare providers. Research suggests that more than 80 percent of human trafficking victims encountered one or more healthcare professionals while being trafficked. Of these providers encountered, 60 percent were emergency department personnel (Lederer & Wetzel, 2014). Although emergency department personnel have a high rate in interaction with victims, less than 5 percent have received formal training regarding human trafficking (Lederer & Wetzel, 2014). It is my goal to better educate current and future healthcare professionals on human trafficking. Through education, more victims can be recognized and be offered the resources they deserve. In order to do this, I want to understand current perceptions, knowledge, and beliefs that healthcare personnel have, and how education affects these perceptions. To gain this information, I will distribute the same survey to healthcare professionals before and after receiving a formal training on human trafficking. Through this survey, I hope to better understand how education affects people’s perceptions, knowledge, and beliefs on human trafficking.