Raising Awareness about Sex Trafficking among School Personnel

Elena Savoia (), Amy Liu, Amy Leffler, Léa Kay Nadril Churchill and Maxwell Su
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Elena Savoia: Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Amy Liu: Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Amy Leffler: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20394, USA
Léa Kay Nadril Churchill: Community Safety Evaluation Lab, Emergency Preparedness Research Evaluation & Practice (EPREP) Program, Division of Policy Translation & Leadership Development, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Maxwell Su: Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 8, 1-15

Abstract: Background: We aimed to (1) understand the level of knowledge about sex trafficking of minors among school personnel and the determinants of such knowledge and (2) test the efficacy of short educational videos in increasing knowledge (awareness level) about sex trafficking of minors among school personnel. Methods: We employed an online survey to gather responses from 741 school personnel living in the US. The McNemar test was used to test for differences in knowledge before and after exposure to the videos. Logistic regression was used to identify predictors of knowledge based on the respondents’ characteristics. Results: Predictors of knowledge about sex trafficking were years of experience in working with youth, level of education, and being a female. Exposure to the educational videos improved school personnel’s basic knowledge about this crime and interest in seeking additional educational material. Conclusion: School personnel have a high level of awareness of risk factors for sex trafficking but less awareness of the definition of sex trafficking in children. Exposure to short educational videos can increase awareness in the short term. There is a need to develop more comprehensive training initiatives for school personnel on sex trafficking. However, training alone is not sufficient, and there is also a need for developing school protocols and programs to provide adequate support to victims of this crime.

Keywords: human trafficking; teachers; school counselors; training; videos; awareness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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