Using Theory and Technology to Build an Interprofessional Community of Human Trafficking Educators

Human trafficking, a global health crisis, requires interprofessional responses. Skilled teachers are needed to train health care providers about human trafficking.

To promote nonhierarchical interprofessional collaborative learning, we applied social cognitive and experiential learning theories within a dialectical constructivist program design to scaffold participants' knowledge and leveraged technology to build and sustain the program's community. WhatsApp and Flipgrid connected participants and faculty prior to the program. Participants' reflections on experiences were used to inform confidential and respectful information sharing. Live case presentations were interwoven with prerecorded didactics, Zoom break-out case analyses, and Q&A sessions with trafficking survivors. Participants used learning theories to cocreate and teach about labor and sex trafficking, disclosure, and the law. A reciprocal teaching activity facilitated participants' integration of new knowledge with authentic work responsibilities. Constructive peer feedback on the content, clarity, and engagement of their teaching reinforced participants' self-efficacy in expanding their education work in their home organizations.

As of 2021, 156 physicians, nurses, social workers, advanced practice providers, psychologists, and public health workers, from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Trinidad/Tobago, have graduated from the program. Three-month postprogram surveys indicated lasting knowledge and skills changes in use of the Stop, Observe, Ask, Refer framework, teaching with adult learning principles, and creating organizational trafficking protocols.

The strategic application of learning theory and technology has enabled us to foster a nonhierarchical community of interprofessional learners, cultivating a dynamic network of educators who continue to make international impacts on people with an experience of human trafficking.