The Hidden Face of Human Trafficking: An Interprofessional Small Group Activity

TTUHSC Interprofessional Practice and Education (IPE) Experience

Title of the Interprofessional Practice and Education Experience

Experience Status

Approved

Approval Date Range

12/9/2024 - 12/9/2025

Registration Details for Learners

We are working on figuring out registration. We are working to provide CE credit.

Criteria for Registering the IPE Experience

Involvement of two or more professions.
Opportunities to learn about, from, and with one another.
Significant interactivity between participants.
Teaching and/or learning about interprofessional practice and education is intentionally integrated into the activity. Interprofessional practice and education constructs are targeted with IPE learning objectives are also discussed, trained, reviewed, and/or assessed as part of the learning activity.

Type of IPE Experience

Case-based and/or problem-based learning
Workshop, interactive demo, or small group activity

IPEC Core Competencies Targeted by this IPE Experience

Communication: Communicate in a responsive, responsible, respectful, and compassionate manner with team members.
Roles and Responsibilities: Use the knowledge of one’s own role and team members’ expertise to address individual and population health outcomes.
Values and Ethics: Work with team members to maintain a climate of shared values, ethical conduct, and mutual respect.
Teams and Teamwork: Apply values and principles of the science of teamwork to adapt one's own role in a variety of team settings.

Quintuple Aim Strategic Goals Discussed in this IPE Experience

Advancing access to care
Enhancing the experience of care
Improving patient and/or population health outcomes

Detailed Description and Purpose of the IPE Experience

Awareness of human trafficking has been increasing due to several laws, social media, and other media outlets. While this increase in awareness is helpful and needed, what has been portrayed to the masses has been sensationalized--depicting human trafficking often as people being abducted while traveling and other types of situations. What has been lacking in awareness is talking about familial trafficking--where a family member or close friend--traffick a person. This type of trafficking is becoming more common in communities across the board--whether rural, suburban or urban. Texas has legislative that requires healthcare workers with direct access to potential human trafficking survivors to receive training about human trafficking. Many times healthcare providers do not feel equipped to identify possible trafficking victims, know how to separate the patient from the perpetrator, or know what to do next--such as how to engage law enforcement, SANE nurses, how to approach treatment, etc. Several existing trainings and programs have excellent information about basic human trafficking definitions and what to do if you encounter a potential victim. This proposed program will focus more on familial trafficking--how to identify familial trafficking, react, and respond in a clinical setting; the program will also go in-depth about what happens after the identified person leaves the clinic--and the process and steps involved in helping a trafficked person.

This online virtual program will highlight the often-overlooked role of family members as both perpetrators and survivors of trafficking. It will explore how trafficking operates within family structures, such as parental coercion, familial control, or the role of family members in grooming and exploiting children. The agenda will include a keynote speaker who survived familial trafficking, a virtual simulation activity with three different vignettes involving a person experiencing familial trafficking, followed by a panel discussion of experts on what happens after a potential human trafficking case is reported. The panel will include: survivor of human trafficking/lived experience, human trafficking case manager and advocate, law enforcement, SANE nurse, prosecutor, and other potential experts in this field.

Purpose Statement: The purpose of this online virtual program is to raise awareness among healthcare providers and community organizations about the often-overlooked issue of familial trafficking, where family members or close acquaintances are the perpetrators. While much attention has been given to external forms of human trafficking, this course seeks to highlight how familial trafficking operates within intimate, familial structures, and to equip healthcare professionals with the necessary knowledge and skills to identify, respond to, and support victims of familial trafficking in a clinical setting. Additionally, the program will explore the post-identification process, emphasizing the importance of collaboration with law enforcement, advocacy groups, and support services to aid the recovery of trafficking victims.

Aims:
To raise awareness about familial trafficking, an increasingly common but often underreported form of human trafficking.
To equip healthcare providers with the skills and knowledge necessary to identify familial trafficking in clinical settings, ensuring they are prepared to respond appropriately.
To foster collaboration between healthcare professionals, law enforcement, and community organizations to create a coordinated and effective response to familial trafficking.
To provide insights into the legal and clinical processes involved after identifying a potential trafficking victim, including engaging with survivors, law enforcement, and other support services.
To create a safe and informed environment for healthcare professionals and community members to discuss and understand the complex dynamics of familial trafficking.

Interprofessional Small Group Activity: During the interprofessional small group activity, interprofessional small groups will review an unfolding simulation vignette video of an adolescent who is being trafficked by a close family member. After each video vignette, small groups will have a set of questions to answer about the video. Questions will relate to identification, response, treatment, and recovery in cases of adolescent human trafficking, as well as roles/responsibilities of the team, communication, teamwork, and values and ethics. Small groups will report out discussions and complete a facilitated debrief.

Learning Objectives: By the end of this program, participants will be able to:

Define familial trafficking and distinguish it from other forms of human trafficking, understanding the unique challenges it presents in identifying and addressing cases in healthcare settings.
Recognize signs of familial trafficking in patients, including the psychological, physical, and behavioral indicators that may suggest involvement in familial trafficking.
Respond effectively in clinical settings to suspected familial trafficking, including how to separate victims from potential perpetrators and how to engage and collaborate with law enforcement, SANE nurses, case managers, survivors, legal professionals, and others.
Understand the post-identification process and the legal, medical, and emotional steps involved in assisting trafficking victims after they leave a healthcare setting.
Apply knowledge gained through real-world scenarios through a virtual simulation activity and panel discussion with experts, to improve practical response strategies in cases of familial trafficking.

Level of IPE Integration

1. Foundations Level: Consists of introductory learning activities that provide learners with the opportunity to interact and learn from professionals and peers from disciplines beyond their own. The desired outcome for activities offered at this level is that learners will gain a deeper understanding of their profession while gaining an appreciation for the perspective and roles of other professions.

Attendance or Participation in the IPE Experience

Certificate credit
Receive certificate of participation and completion

Frequency of the IPE Experience

01. Annually

Duration and/or Timeline of the IPE Experience

03. 4 to 5 hours

Campus and/or Location of the IPE Experience

Abilene
Amarillo
Dallas
Distance Education
Lubbock
Odessa
Midland

Average Number of Learners Participating in the IPE Experience

05. 201 to 300

Target Audiences

Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Audiences

Biomedical Sciences, MS
Biomedical Sciences, PhD
Biotechnology, MS
Graduate Medical Sciences, MS
Pharmaceutical Sciences, MS
Pharmaceutical Sciences, PhD

School of Health Professions Audiences

Addiction Counseling, MS
Athletic Training, MAT
Audiology, AuD
Clinical Mental Health Counseling, MS
Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling, MS
Healthcare Administration (Certificate)
Healthcare Administration, MS
Healthcare Management, BS
Medical Laboratory Science (Certificate)
Medical Laboratory Science (Second Degree), BS
Medical Laboratory Science, BS
Molecular Pathology, MS
Occupational Therapy (Post-Professional), OTD-P
Occupational Therapy, OTD
Physical Therapy, DPT
Physician Assistant Studies, MPAS
Rehabilitation Science, PhD
Rehabilitation Science, ScD
Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences (Second Degree), BS
Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, BS
Speech-Language Pathology, MS

School of Medicine Audiences

MS 1
MS 2
MS 3
MS 4
Residents

School of Nursing Audiences

Doctor of Nursing Practice
Graduate MSN
Post-Master’s/Advanced Practice
RN to BSN
Second Degree BSN
Traditional BSN
Veteran BSN

School of Pharmacy Audiences

P1
P2
P3
P4
SOP Residents

School of Population and Public Health Audiences

Public Health, Certificate
Public Health, MPH Online
Public Health, MPH Traditional

Other

Community partners and organizations.

IPEC Core Competencies for the Experience

IPEC Core Competency: Values and Ethics

VE01. Promote the values and interests of persons and populations in health care delivery, One Health, and population health initiatives.
VE05. Value the expertise of health professionals and its impacts on team functions and health outcomes.
VE03. Uphold the dignity, privacy, identity, and autonomy of persons while maintaining confidentiality in the delivery of team-based care.
VE07. Practice trust, empathy, respect, and compassion with persons, caregivers, health professionals, and populations.
VE08. Apply high standards of ethical conduct and quality in contributions to team-based care.

IPEC Core Competency: Roles and Responsibilities

RR01. Include the full scope of knowledge, skills, and attitudes of team members to provide care that is person-centered, safe, cost-effective, timely, efficient, effective, and equitable.
RR02. Collaborate with others within and outside of the health system to improve health outcomes.
RR03. Incorporate complementary expertise to meet health needs including the determinants of health.
RR04. Differentiate each team member’s role, scope of practice, and responsibility in promoting health outcomes.
RR05. Practice cultural humility in interprofessional teamwork.

IPEC Core Competency: Communication

C01. Communicate one’s roles and responsibilities clearly.
C03. Communicate clearly with authenticity and cultural humility, avoiding discipline-specific terminology.
C04. Promote common understanding of shared goals.
C05. Practice active listening that encourages ideas and opinions of other team members.
C07. Examine one’s position, power, role, unique experience, expertise, and culture towards improving communication and managing conflicts.

IPEC Core Competency: Teams and Teamwork

TT02. Appreciate team members’ diverse experiences, expertise, cultures, positions, power, and roles towards improving team function.
TT03. Practice team reasoning, problem-solving, and decision-making.
TT07. Share team accountability for outcomes.
TT09. Operate from a shared framework that supports resiliency, well-being, safety, and efficacy.
TT08. Facilitate team coordination to achieve safe, effective care and health outcomes.

Type of Learner Assessment Administered

Self-reflection with facilitated debrief
Knowledge assessment

Formal Assessment Protocol used, if Applicable

Type of Program Evaluation Administered

Planning committee feedback/evaluation
Activity feedback/evaluation – from learners
pre/post tests

Provide Details on the Potential Sustainability of the IPE Experience

Dedicated personnel
Dedicated resources
Engaged community partners

Provide Dedicated Funding Sources:

Other - institutional support
In-kind contributions

Roles of Faculty/Staff in the IPE Experience:

Assessors of student learning
Facilitators
Leadership team members
Planning committee members

Additional Information About the IPE Experience, if Necessary

IPE Experience Organizer

School of Health Professions
School of Nursing
Human Trafficking Collaborative
Community partners

Contact Person(s) and Contact Information for the IPE Experience

Julie St. John
TTUHSC SHP
Associate Professor; Chair, :TTUHSC Human Trafficking Collaborative
325.513.4943
julie.st-john@ttuhsc.edu