Faculty Collaboration Database

Evaluation of a Tool to Identify Child Sex Trafficking Victims in Multiple Healthcare Settings. J Adolesc Health 2018 Dec;63(6):745-752

Date

10/09/2018

Pubmed ID

30293860

DOI

10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.06.032

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85055886609 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   47 Citations

Abstract

PURPOSE: Estimate the prevalence of child sex trafficking (CST) among patients seeking care in multiple healthcare settings; evaluate a short screening tool to identify victims in a healthcare setting.

METHODS: This cross-sectional observational study involved patients from 16 sites throughout the U.S.: five pediatric emergency departments, six child advocacy centers, and five teen clinics. Participants included English-speaking youth ages 11-17 years. For emergency department sites, inclusion criteria included a chief complaint of sexual violence. Data on several domains were gathered through self-report questionnaires and examiner interview. Main outcomes included prevalence of CST among eligible youth; sensitivity, specificity, positive/negative predictive values, and positive/negative likelihood ratios for a CST screening tool.

RESULTS: Eight hundred and ten participants included 91 (11.52%) youth from emergency departments, 395 (48.8%) from child advocacy centers, and 324 (40.0%) from teen clinics. Overall prevalence of CST was 11.1%: 13.2% among emergency department patients, 6.3% among child advocacy center patients, and 16.4% among teen clinic patients, respectively. The screen had a sensitivity, specificity, and positive likelihood ratio of 84.44% (75.28, 91.23), 57.50% (53.80, 61.11), and 1.99% (1.76, 2.25), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates a significant rate of CST among patients presenting to emergency departments (for sexual violence complaints), child advocacy centers, and teen clinics. A six-item screen showed relatively good sensitivity and moderate specificity. Negative predictive value was high. Intervention for a "positive" screen may identify victims and help prevent high-risk youth from becoming victimized. This is one of the first CST screening tools specifically developed and evaluated in the healthcare setting.

Author List

Greenbaum VJ, Livings MS, Lai BS, Edinburgh L, Baikie P, Grant SR, Kondis J, Petska HW, Bowman MJ, Legano L, Kas-Osoka O, Self-Brown S

Author

Hillary W. Petska MD Associate Professor in the Pediatrics department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adolescent
Child Abuse, Sexual
Crime Victims
Cross-Sectional Studies
Emergency Service, Hospital
Female
Human Trafficking
Humans
Male
Mass Screening
Prevalence
Self Report
Sensitivity and Specificity
Surveys and Questionnaires
United States