Abstract
BACKGROUND: Identification of sex-trafficked youth in the emergency department (ED) is difficult and routine screening is uncommon.
OBJECTIVES: Our Quality Improvement (QI) Project aimed to increase ED screening and identification of high-risk youth using the Short Screen for Child Sex Trafficking (SSCST).
PARTICIPANTS: Youth (11 through 17 years) seeking care at two metropolitan EDs with a high-risk chief complaint triggering a best practice alert (BPA).
METHODS: A BPA prompted administration of the SSCST and referral of screen 'positive' youth for comprehensive evaluation for child sex trafficking by the forensic nurse examiner (FNE). Targeted QI interventions defined three study periods (SP). Outcomes measures included screening 50% of high-risk youth with 50% of those youth referred for FNE evaluation.
RESULTS: Over three study periods, 5454/13,956 (39.1%) youth triggered a BPA for high-risk chief complaint; 4354 (78.6%) received the SSCST screen; 1336 (76.0%) of screen-positive youth were referred for FNE evaluation. Outcomes measures were exceeded during all three study periods. SSCST modifications to increase specificity led to a significant decrease in the percentage of positive screens (42.8% SP1 vs 29.4% SP3). Financial programmatic support and further staff training led to an increase in FNE evaluations (86.4 SP3 vs 5.7% of referred youth SP1). Identification of trafficked patients increased from 1.3% of screen-positive youth to 11.3% (SP1 vs SP3; p < 0.0001).
CONCLUSIONS: Routine screening for child sex trafficking can be implemented in the ED setting and increases the identification of at-risk youth.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 105506 |
| Journal | Child Abuse and Neglect |
| Volume | 125 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health Award Number UL1-TR002494 . The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Funding Information:
This project is funded by Grant No. 2019-VM-BX-0011 awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime . The Office for Victims of Crime is a component of the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs. Points of view or opinions in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Funding Information:
This project is funded by Grant No. 2019-VM-BX-0011 awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime. The Office for Victims of Crime is a component of the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs. Points of view or opinions in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health Award Number UL1-TR002494. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors
Keywords
- Child sex trafficking
- Quality improvement
- Screening tool
- Sexual exploitation
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Journal Article
- Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
- Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
