Obtaining Exposure and Depth of Field: School Nurses "Seeing" Youth Vulnerability to Trafficking

Trafficking of youth is a growing phenomenon. How commercially exploited youth present in schools is multifaceted and poorly understood. Like other providers, school nurses are on the frontlines, yet can misunderstand youth who are commercially exploited. Using Grounded Theory, we employed theoretical sampling with school nurses and survivors of trafficking to generate a theory that explains (a) the factors that increase the risk of youth being trafficked and (b) how school nurses might identify youth at risk of being trafficked. The emerging theory developed from the data was Obtaining Exposure and Depth of Field: School Nurses "Seeing" Youth Vulnerability to Trafficking. Voices of school nurses and survivors illuminated the invisibility of youth in schools who are victims of trafficking and the magnified lens of exploiters who see their vulnerability. The lens of school nurses can be refocused to "see" youth who are victims of trafficking presenting at school.