Providing trauma-informed care to women exiting prostitution: assessing programmatic responses to severe trauma

Women in prostitution (WIP) experience extremely high levels of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse and are significantly more likely to experience mental health issues and trauma than the general population. Research that addresses the mental health needs of WIP emphasizes treating trauma, both trauma that predated entry into prostitution and trauma experienced during prostitution. Very little research is available on services for WIP, thus providers have limited guidance on providing effective services, particularly trauma-informed care. Although programs exist exclusively to assist women leaving prostitution, little is known about services they offer or if services are trauma-informed. Given this dearth, this study consisted of exploratory program evaluations of eight agencies that focus primarily on serving WIP to understand how trauma is addressed in their services.