Service users' and care providers' experiences of post-trafficking shelter and care services for adult victims of cross-border human trafficking to the Netherlands

The consequences of human trafficking for the mental, physical and social
health of victims are grave, complex, and long-lasting. Despite the immense
scale of human trafficking globally, research on how care should be provided
for victims after they have been able to exit a trafficking situation (*post-
trafficking care*) remains a neglected topic of study.

Recently a new post-trafficking shelter and care programme was initiated for
trafficking victims in the Netherlands: the Categorical Care for Victims of
Trafficking (Dutch acronym: COSM) programme. The COSM-programme consists of
three shelters in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Emmen, that provide a range of
post-trafficking social and medical care services for victims of trafficking.

Aim: To explore how service users and care providers experience the services
that are provided to victims of trafficking by the Dutch post-trafficking
shelter and care COSM-programme.

Objective 1. To explore service users* and care providers* perceptions of need
for different post-trafficking shelter and care services.
Objective 2. To investigate which factors, events, behaviours, or experiences
are perceived by service users as positively or negatively affecting their
experience of provided services as part of the Dutch COSM-programme.
Objective 3. To investigate which factors, events, behaviours, or experiences
are perceived by care providers as positively or negatively affecting service
provision as part of the Dutch COSM-programme.
Objective 4. To explore potential differences in perceived care needs and
experiences of provided services between and within the groups of care
providers and service users.

A qualitative method of inquiry will be used. Data will be collected mainly via
interviews.

With care providers, one interview will be conducted. With service users, two
interviews will be conducted. With both populations, short follow-up interviews
may be conducted to acquire more information on specific areas of interest, in
addition to the main interview sessions described above. During the interviews
with both care providers and service users, information will be mainly
collected on:
1. the participant*s view on what kind of services are needed;
2. a description of what kinds of services are provided and how they are
provided; and
3. how that service provision is experienced by the participant.

The proposed research project will make use of three additional data sources.
First, on the request of the shelters, the principal researcher will
participate in several activities of the shelters. During these visits, the
principal researcher will make field notes that will be used as auxiliary
information for data analysis. Field notes will also be made when visiting the
shelter to conduct interviews or on other occasions. Second, CoMensha and the
COSM-shelters keep a detailed record of each service user, including which care
was provided and what problems were encountered, for the purposes of case
management and future research. As part of the informed consent procedure,
service users will be asked whether these data can be used to aid in the
interpretation of the research findings. Third, Dutch and international experts
on care provision for victims of human trafficking might be interviewed at the
end of the research project (in person, via phone, or via email) to solicit
their views on how care should be provided for this population or to comment on
the results of the proposed research.

The proposed research is mainly concerned with exploring how service users and
care providers experience the services that are provided to victims of
trafficking by a Dutch post-trafficking shelter and care programme. The
proposed research is limited to investigating experiences with shelter and care
and is not aimed at investigating trafficking experiences. However, given that
the trafficking experiences are likely to have influenced needs and service
experiences, these experiences may come up in conversations with service users
tangentially. Such conversations could be emotionally and psychologically
challenging for service users. For this reason, all interviews will be
conducted in the shelters, where service providers (social care workers) are
present 24 hours a day 7 days per week.

There is no direct benefit of participation, but previous services studies
among this population have shown positive responses about participation in
research aimed at improving service delivery (even when interviews were
emotionally charged). These same studies have shown that a reason for victims
to participate is to make care provision better for future service users.

Source: Brunovskis A, Surtees R: Untold Stories: Biases and Selection Effects
in Research with Victims of Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation. International
Migration 2010, 48:1-37.