Human trafficking online educational training to increase emergency nurses' knowledge, self-efficacy, skills in identification, and referral of human trafficking survivors

Abstract

Human trafficking inclusive of forced labor is a hidden global public health epidemic that crosses all cultures, countries, ages, genders, economic incomes and families. Worldwide human trafficking is known as modern day slavery globally exploiting an estimated 40.3 million victims of human trafficking. Of these 40.3 million victims of human trafficking 81% are trapped in forced labor, 75% include women as well as girls, and 25% are children. Human trafficking and forced labor are a $150 billion industry worldwide. The National ENA has a position statement on human trafficking which identifies that emergency nurses, as well as other healthcare professionals, for unknown reasons, still do not identify survivors of human trafficking who enter the healthcare system. This is a problem because human trafficking survivors do not self-identify when they enter the healthcare system which makes it imperative that emergency nurses receive further training in human trafficking survivor’s identification and skills to care for them. In addition, emergency settings are frequently the only healthcare access for human trafficking survivors highlighting the need for further training to identify potential human trafficking survivors, offer them services and break the cycle of violence. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a human trafficking online educational intervention increases nurse’s knowledge, self-efficacy, and skills in identifying survivors of human trafficking.