Sex Trafficking Red Flags: Confirming Presentation Patterns and Childhood Adversity Risk Factors

With knowledge about red flags, health professionals can better identify sex trafficking victims. This research seeks to confirm a match between items on one screening tool and trafficked youth’s actual experiences. Also considered are high levels of adverse childhood experiences, another red flag among trafficked youth. Both provide evidence that health care professionals should regularly screen for trafficking risk factors, including personal and family adversity, among youth in all health care settings. Existing clinically oriented tools can serve as a starting point for nurse leaders to integrate system-wide interventions to identify youth at risk for and currently being trafficked.

(Publisher abstract provided.)