Health Care Professionals’ Decision Making and Attitudes Surrounding Sex Trafficking

Title: Health Care Professionals' Decision Making and Attitudes Surrounding Sex Trafficking

Description: This study examines mandatory reporting and duty-to-warn decision making among registered health care professionals and health professional trainees in Canada. The primary purpose is to examine whether characteristics of a client and their disclosure influence clinicians’ reporting decisions in situations involving potential sex trafficking, alongside clinicians’ broader knowledge of and attitudes toward sex trafficking. Participants are randomly assigned to one of four hypothetical clinical vignettes in a 2 × 2 design. The vignettes manipulate the client’s age (15 vs. 19 years) and the explicitness of the disclosure (explicit vs. non-explicit disclosure of sex trafficking). Following the vignette, participants indicate whether they would make a formal report, whether they believe the situation meets criteria for duty to warn, their reasoning for their reporting decision, to whom they would report, the next steps they would take, and how likely they believe it is that the client is a victim/survivor of sex trafficking. The study also assesses participants’ sex-trafficking-related myths and attitudes using author-adapted versions of the Human Trafficking Myths Scale (HTMS; Cunningham & Cromer, 2016) and Sex Trafficking Attitudes Scale (STAS; Houston-Kolnik et al., 2016).

Specifics: Study Population:
Registered healthcare professionals in Canada or trainees in a program that will lead to a registered healthcare profession

Participant Obligation:
15-20 minute survey

Location: Online - Halifax

Project lead: Melissa Corbett, Supervisor: Dr. Skye Stephens

Study Dates: September 30, 2026 to December 31, 2026

Study Website: https://smuniversity.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bJeHnCPtPZGvGYu