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Thesis advisor: Thomas M. Crea / Thesis advisor: Scott D. Easton / This qualitative study collected and analyzed original interview data with mental health clinicians and survivor mentors exploring their perspectives on and experiences in aftercare/recovery work with survivors of domestic and international sex trafficking in the United States, through multidisciplinary and multisystemic contexts. This study addresses the significant gap of research on mental health recovery support with survivors of sex trafficking, which exists despite disturbing prevalence rates of sex trafficking, especially amongst girls and women of Color living in the United States. The study examined mental health providers’ perspectives on treatment approaches they employ, the processes they find to be effective, and their views on emancipatory approaches in recovery work. This study collected, transcribed, and analyzed semi-structured interview data with 13 mental health providers (including clinicians and peer/survivor mentors), and employed qualitative conventional content analysis. The study is the first to explore mental health providers’ experiences with service provision/accompaniment with a focus specifically on their work within multidisciplinary and multisystemic environments. It aims to increase understanding about the perspectives and approaches held by multidisciplinary therapists and survivor mentors, who specialize in accompanying survivors of sex trafficking, and may hold important insights into this complex work. The study found that therapists and peer mentors are challenged by barriers, and leverage key opportunities in their work through multidisciplinary and multisystemic contexts, and benefit from partnering with each other in survivor recovery work. It also found that survivor community and peer mentors are central to aftercare/recovery work, and that providers work to employ an intersectional/emancipatory healing lens. Analyses identified fifteen approaches to recovery work, organized into four categories: 1) integrated structural and trauma-sensitive emotional support; 2) community and emancipatory healing approaches; 3) peer mentor as a critical role; and 4) multiple systems challenge recovery. Implications for future research, clinical practice and policy are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

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Karnataka har visat sig vara en populär destination för människohandel. Tyvärr faller många migranter och andra offer för människohandlare, ofta på grund av globaliseringens mörka sidor. Det övergripande syftet med studien var att nå en bättre förståelse av tillgängliga stödverksamheter för sexhandels offer i Karnataka, och utmaningar därefter, för att bättre harmonisera tjänster och svara mot offrens rättigheter. Forskningsmetoden bestod av kvalitativ karaktär med etnografiska inslag, med fältarbete som bedrivits i den indiska delstaten Karnataka. Studien ger en kartläggning av stödtjänster (främst rehabiliteringshem) för offer, samtidigt som den undersöker utmaningar i relation till politiska beslut, strategier och implementering. Situationen i dag målar upp en bild av förvirring när det gäller ett fungerande stödsystem. I allmänhet var rehabiliteringshemmen ohygieniska med dåliga sanitära förhållanden med begränsad hälso-och sjukvård. Hemmen var även otillräckliga vad gäller säkerhet, samarbete och samordning, samt utbildning och erfarenhet hos personal. De ’skyddande och rehabiliterande hemmen’ (Ujjawalas) är inte tillräckliga nog vad gäller ett stödsystem, och de fokuserar inte enbart på offer för sexhandeln. Således bör det finnas specialisthjälp (med hälsokliniker), särskilt eftersom offer för sexhandeln ofta behöver specialiserad vård, psykosocialt som fysiskt. Ett socialt rättvist stödsystem bör förstå och värdera mänskliga rättigheter, samt erkänna värdighet hos varje individ. Om det finns en brist på ett fungerande stödsystem, och framför allt ett holistiskt sektorsövergripande synsätt, riskerar offer fysiska såväl som psykiska problem. Ett icke fungerande stödsystem kan också förvärra socioekonomiska orättvisor, speciellt eftersom offer riskerar att hamna i fattigdom om de inte integreras tillbaka i samhället. Som en övergripande socioekonomisk och politisk fråga undergräver det hälsa, trygghet och säkerhet, inte bara hos de människor som är direkt berörda utan samhället i stort. / Karnataka has turned out to be a hotspot destination for human trafficking. Unfortunately many migrants and others fall prey for traffickers, often due to the dark sides of globalisation. The overall purpose of the assessment was to reach a better understanding of available victim support services for victims of sex trafficking in Karnataka, and challenges thereof, as to better harmonise services and respond to the rights of victims. The method of research was of qualitative character with ethnographic elements, with fieldwork conducted in Karnataka, India. The research provides a mapping of victim support services (with a focus on shelters), while also examining challenges in relation to policy, strategy and implementation. The situation today paints out a picture of confusion in terms of a victim support system. In general, the shelters were unhygienic with poor sanitation and offered limited health services. They were also inadequate in terms of security, cooperation and coordination, as well as education and experience among shelter staff. At the moment the ‘Protective and Rehabilitative Homes’ (Ujjawalas) are not adequate enough, and do not exclusively focus on sex trafficked victims. As such, there should be specialised assistance (with health clinics), especially since sex trafficked victims often need specialised care, psycho-socially as well as physically. A socially just system should understand and value human right, as well as recognise the dignity of every human being. If there is a lack of a functioning support system, and especially a holistic multi-sectoral approach, victims risk physical as well as mental health problems. A non-functioning system can also spur socio-economical injustices, as victims risk end up in poverty if they are not properly integrated back into society. As a cross-cutting socio-economic as well as political issue it undermines the health, security and safety of not only people directly concerned but the society in general as well.

Human trafficking, the cruel and inhumane crime that it is, exploits the lives of millions of people around the world. My study explores the common vulnerabilities that exist for victims of cross-national human trafficking. First, I analyze literature discussing individual and country- level victim demographics to identify characteristics that predict recruitment or abduction into human trafficking. Using the 2017 Counter Trafficking Data Collaborative, I demonstrate the applicability of Cohen and Felson's 1979 Routine Activity Theory (RAT) to explain the vulnerabilities to victimization further. More specifically, I use VIVA to assess the methods of control and types of exploitation utilized by domestic and international traffickers. A sociological study that combines the work of RAT and VIVA in relation to human trafficking victimization is yet to exist, therefore I am seeking to fill this research gap. The overarching goal of this study is to form a victim profile through cluster analysis and logistic regression in order to locate the unique patterns of victimization. My findings demonstrate that there is a significant relationship between the three clusters formed, the methods of control used by the perpetrator (physical, psychological, and economic abuse), and the types of exploitation suffered by the victim (sexual and labor exploitation). / Master of Science / Human trafficking is the abduction and exploitation of individuals, in which victims are manipulated into sex or labor trafficking in unfamiliar environments without compensation. Trafficking occurs beyond national borders, therefore I look at victims originating from all over the globe. The literature I utilize looks at individual-level demographics and national-level characteristics. I then use a database to link certain social and theoretical elements of these demographics and characteristics to the methods of control and types of exploitation traffickers enforce upon their victims. Overall, this study forms a victim profile and locates the unique patterns of trafficking victimization through multiple data applications. My thesis concludes with findings on clusters that combine age, gender, recruiter relations, literacy rates, and trafficking laws and regressions that link these clusters to physical, psychological, and economic control as well as sexual and labor exploitation.

Human trafficking, domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST), and commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) are complex and multifaceted occurrences in the United States. As the numbers of youth ensnared in sexually exploitive situations increase, organizations and communities are called upon to address the ramifications of this abuse; little research was located, however, that examined collaborative networks and partnerships that address victim identification and mitigation of DMST and CSEC. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to determine whether strategic partnerships existed within the community under investigation. The theoretical framework was environmental theory, as first described by Florence Nightingale; the conceptual framework was centered on collaborative networks. Research questions focused on victim identification and organizational strategies for collaboration and mitigation of sex trafficking. The research population was composed of 8 individuals working in organizations in a metropolitan area on the West Coast that served victims of DMST and CSEC. Data obtained from interviews were coded, compared, and analyzed for major and emergent themes. Findings indicated that, in the effort to identify victims, these 8 individuals needed to consider all children involved in prostitution as victims and not criminals. Further, their efforts toward mitigation needed to center on widespread education across the broader social spectrum of the issues with DMST and CSEC. These workers identified strategies identified to address DMST and CSEC included the "5 Ps": prevention, protection, prosecution, partnership, and policy. These findings may inform organizations and policy makers about how to make informed decisions about the needs and challenges of addressing sexually exploited youth.