A reliability analysis: human trafficking curriculum assessment tool (HT-CAT) for health care provider human trafficking trainings.

Abstract

Background: Human trafficking is an egregious human rights violation with profound physical and mental health sequelae. Healthcare encounters present critical opportunities to identify and support individuals experiencing trafficking. To maximize these opportunities, healthcare professionals must be equipped to recognize the signs of trafficking and respond effectively with trauma-informed, survivor-centered care. High quality training is essential to ensure that healthcare providers have the knowledge and skills to fulfill this role. To address the need for standardized, evidence-based evaluation of trafficking training, the Human Trafficking Curriculum Assessment Tool (HT-CAT) was developed as a structured quality assessment tool. This study evaluates HT-CAT's reliability.

Methods: The Human Trafficking Curriculum Assessment Tool (HT-CAT) was used to evaluate the quality of a compendium of introductory human trafficking educational resources for health care professionals. Twenty-four trainings were systematically reviewed using the HT-CAT by a minimum of three reviewers. Statistical analyses were conducted to examine interrater reliability and to describe variation across trainings and assessment tool items.

Results: There was high interrater agreement based on summed HT-CAT domain scores (ICC = 0.88, 95% CI 0.84-0.93). Individual item scores had variable agreement (K = 0.30, 95% CI 0.22-0.38) with high between training variability, as well as variable agreement on how specific items should be scored (alpha = 0.27, 95% CI 0.23-0.31). This variation in scoring was consistent between items, suggesting that there were no items that systematically produced more or less agreement than others.

Conclusions: The HT-CAT is a reliable tool for assessing the overall quality of human trafficking education of health professionals. HT-CAT has important applications for health policy makers and health professions educators. Rigorous assessment of key components of human trafficking trainings for healthcare professionals can help ensure that high quality, relevant education is offered to this group of direct service providers that play an important role in supporting survivors of human trafficking. High-quality training equips providers, a vital lifeline for survivors of human trafficking, with the knowledge and tools to offer compassionate, informed care.