Preventing the Trafficking of Youth: A Retrospective Evaluation of kNow MORE! An Educational Program in San Diego, California

Figures & data

Table 1. Sociodemographic Characteristics of kM! Program Participants.

	Pre	Post
Characteristics	N (%)	N (%)
Types of Setting	5334 (100)	3671 (100)
Schools	4,931 (92.44)	3430 (93.3)
Church	133 (2.5)	108 (2.9)
Community Center	193 (3.6)	101 (2.7)
Juvenile Facility	77 (1.4)	32 (0.9)
Type of Participants	4165 (100)	3837 (100)
Students	3,912 (93.9)	2,691 (94.9)
Non-students	253 (6.1)	146 (5.1)
Sex	5334 (100)	3671 (100)
Female	3158 (59.2)	2113 (57.5)
Male	1906 (36.0)	1334 (36.3)
“I don’t want to answer”	210 (4.0)	164 (4.5)
Other	51 (1)	32 (0.9)
Level of Education	3912 (100)	2691 (100)
7^th	612 (14.69)	443 (16.5)
8^th	584 (14.9)	415 (15.4)
9^th	1731 (44.2)	1292 (48.0)
10^th	412 (10.5)	222 (8.2)
11^th	296 (7.6)	151 (5.6)
12^th	277 (7.1)	168 (6.2)
Race/Ethnicity*	4910 (100)	3404 (100)
African American	251 (5.1)	181 (5.3)
Asian/Pacific Islander	284 (5.8)	189 (5.6)
White	1057 (21.5)	794 (23.3)
Middle Eastern	104 (2.1)	55 (1.6)
Native American	18 (0.4)	8 (0.2)
Other	130 (2.6)	77 (2.3)
Biracial/Multiracial	908 (18.7)	690 (20.3)
Hispanic/Latin Origin
Yes	2152 (43.8)	1410 (41.4)

*Participants could select more than one option including Hispanic/Latin Origin.

Table 2. Awareness & Knowledge of Human Trafficking Among Participants of kM!

Awareness of Human Trafficking	Pre Intervention % (n/N)	Post intervention % (n/N)	Χ2	P-value (0.05)
Victimization of HT
Being made to perform a sexual act for financial gain is a type of HT (True)	90.0 (1669/1854)	96.0 (1404/1462)	43.5	0.001
If someone forces another person to perform a sexual act for money … (True)	85.3 (1442/1690)	97.7 (1227/1256)	129.3	0.001
Location
If you want to avoid getting caught up in sex trafficking, just stay away …(False)	50.7 (1300/2564)	47.7 (907/1901)	3.9	0.048
Trafficking only happens in certain parts of SD (False)	15.3 (303/1980)	11.6 (165/1425)	9.7	0.002
Trafficker Charateristics
Traffickers can be men, women, girls or boys (True)	93.4 (2039/2183)	94.2 (1388/1473)	1	0.312
Vicitim Charateristics
The average age that a girl in S.D. is recruited into sex trafficking is 16 (True)	61.5 (2147/3496)	77.1 (2584/3352)	196.8	0.001
Victims of HT are likely to ask for help. (False)	40.4 (1617/3998)	29.5 (910/3086)	91.1	0.001
Knowledge of Human Trafficking
Traffickers Strategies of recruitment
Traffickers can recruit victims online or through social media (True)	93.3 (2986/3201)	96.3 (2472/2566)	26.1	0.001
Traffickers are unlikely to recruit at schools (False)	78.6 (1240/1578)	84.2 (1143/1359)	14.5	0.001
Victimization Identification
A classmate at schools posts online that his girlfriend is willing to have sex with someone … (Yes, for money & drugs)	82.3 (2628/3191)	91.7 (2286/2494)	109.2	0.001
Resources
National Hotline (True)	95.3 (2916/3060)	97.4 (2522/2590)	16.8	0.001

NOTES:

1. Total numbers did not include “I don’t know” or “Missing” cases.

2. Response inside parenthesis denotes the correct response

3. n=Number of correct responses and N=total number of responses

Table 3. Knowledge of Trafficking Among Participants of kNow MORE!

Grooming & Vulnerabilities	Pre (N = 5334)		Post (N = 3671)		Difference*
	N	%	N	%	%
Version 1
Expensive Possessions	970	18.2	1175	32.0	+13.8
Exposed Bruises	1605	30.1	1263	34.4	+4.3
Frequent Absences	1447	27.1	1216	33.12	+6.0
Have a New Tattoo	562	10.5	1145	32.0	+22.5
Have Two Cell Phones	809	15.2	890	24.2	+9.0
Spending Time with New Friends	490	9.2	529	14.4	+5.2
Eat In Class	89	1.7	100	3.0	+2.3
Loud in Class	82	1.5	200	6.0	+1.3
Watch the Wrong Kind of Movies	281	5.3	187	5.1	−0.2
None of These Actions	89	1.7	34	0.0	−1.7
Not Sure	506	9.5	130	3.5	−6.0
Version 2
Increase Absences and New Expensive Clothes	1279	24.0	1221	33.3	9.3
Seen on Streets & Is from Another Country	328	6.1	91	2.5	−2.6
Talks on the phone & Eats in Class	59	1.1	55	1.5	+0.4
Not Sure	525	10.0	80	2.2	−7.8
Identification of Victimization N = 3463			Post
Post-Assessment Only			N	%
I Can Tell if Someone Is Being Sold**
Disagree			221	6.0
Neutral			889	24.2
Agree			2353	64.1

*Difference of percentages: “+” denotes increase and “-” denotes decrease in post-assessment.

after intervention.

**Values of “Strongly Disagree and Disagree” were combined to “Disagree..”

“Agree” and “Strongly Agree” were combined into “Agree.”

Table 4. Self-Perceived Advocacy – Assisting Others, Compassion & Moving into Action.

	Pre			Post
	N (%)	M (SD)	Median	N (%)	M(SD)	Median
I am willing to act if I suspect human trafficking.	2133 (100)	4.33 (1.182)	5	1391 (100)	4.50 (1.065)	5
1	135 (6.3)			66 (4.7)
3	442 (20.7)			218 (15.7)
5	1556 (72.9)			1107 (79.6)
I feel bad when someone else gets hurt	2147 (100)	4.31 (1.252)	5	1394 (100)	4.36 (1.227)	5
1	178 (8.3)			110 (7.9)
3	383 (17.8)			229 (16.4)
5	1586 (73.9)			1055 (75.7)
I believe all my peers should receive human trafficking education	2135 (100)	4.31 (1.197)	5	1386 (100)	4.51 (1.061)	5
1	141 (6.6)			67 (4.8)
3	455 (21.3)			204 (14.7)
5	1539 (72.1)			1115 (80.4)
	Pre
	N (%)	M(SD)	Median
I understand all the information	3466 (100)	4.65 (0.926)	5
1	118 (1.3)
3	371 (4.1)
5	2975 (32.9)
I learned more about human trafficking	3473 (100)	4.66 (0.938)	5
1	136 (1.5)
3	322 (3.6)
5	3015 (33.4)
The presenter helped me learn about human trafficking	3475 (100)	4.86 (0.900)	5
1	121 (1.3)
3	306 (3.4)
5	3048 (33.7)

Table 5. Qualitative Findings: Benefits, Challenges, and Recommendations.

Benefits of Participation
Gained New Knowledge	”.. I thought the drama was very effective and realistic. It really showed, not told, what trafficking might look like for us. I think having discussions and more information content in between the acting helped guide our understanding.”
Engagement	“Yes! I really enjoyed it. Even though it was online, I found it very engaging, thorough, and helpful. Honestly, the online transition looked very nice. I would recommend this course to teachers and students. I really liked how speakers were talking while sharing the slides. This made it easy to follow and understand the content being spoken about. The videos were of good quality and there were no noticeable technical difficulties. The program was engaging throughout, and I never felt bored or that it was too long.”
Self-Advocacy	“I liked how they really showed us how to identify the victims and to be an up stander if anything happens and not just sit around like you didn’t see anything.”
Challenges of Participation
Lack of Understanding	Make it a little better at explaining to people who don’t know a lot of English or simply don’t understand.
	… Information is presented in a very abstract manner and our students need information presented in a very concrete manner.
Unwanted Emotions	Maybe make it less stressful, it was almost scary to be a part of, and if there can be a way for it to be more relaxed but still have the same seriousness that would be good.
Recommendations for Improvement
Modification of Curriculum	The program can be improved by giving more information, and different sex trafficking scenarios. Like, show different situations about human trafficking.
	I feel like the program was very well done; however, I feel as though there should have been more examples of trafficking. Instead of just being someone meeting another person online, it could be other things too.
Resources, Reporting and Safety	You can improve by letting us know more about the subject and providing resources for helping [others].
Modification of Delivery & Engagement	Una manera de mejorar es que los estudiantes de todos los grados puedan tener este taller y ver los testimonios de sobrevivientes para que sepan como se combierte alguien en victima[Translation: To improve the program have access to attending workshops [on this topic–trafficking] to students from all different grades so they can testimonies from survivors so theycan learn more about how victims get trapped].