I led on conducting research for the Modern Slavery Core Outcome Set (MSCOS) project. The MSCOS aimed to produce core outcomes for survivors of human trafficking to be measured and acknowledged in intervention development and evaluation. It involved three extensive literature reviews, exploratory workshops, secondary analysis of survivor interviews, interviews with marginalised survivor groups, and an international three stage E-Delphi consensus exercise. We adopted a participatory approach and I supervised, trained, and supported peer researchers with lived experience, to ensure that the outcomes and interventions developed were genuinely reflective of survivor needs. I led on writing the academic paper.
Findings
There is extensive information on the MSCOS available via the project website, the MSCOS report, the MSCOS toolkit and the MSCOS Outcomes Long-List. Below are the seven core outcomes we arrived from Jannesari et al. 2023:
Final outcomes included in the Modern Slavery Core Outcome Set | |
Long-term consistent support | Support services should be advocated for at the right time and available when they are required in accordance with each survivor’s individual circumstances. It is important that survivors can access support that is long-term (e.g., therapeutic care and individual support s specifically tailored to each person’s assessed needs, risks, and circumstances). Assessment of needs and risks should be revisited and updated on a regular basis and services available for as long as is required. A key outcome feature is that support is consistent, and it enables survivors to build a trusting relationship with professionals. It is important that support staff have training and pastoral supervision so that they do not suffer professional burnout and can continue to provide the long-term consistent support that is needed. |
Secure and suitable housing | Survivors should live in a place they can call home, where they feel safe and secure, can exercise freedom and independence, and live without suffering, abuse, or exploitation. Housing should offer private personal space, be hygienic, have enough peace to be able to rest and sleep, and preclude worries about being evicted. Key outcome features include safe house accommodation being gender-sensitive, allowing for the proper investigation of complaints, having cooking and cleaning facilities, not being overcrowded, and being a place where survivors feel respected. |
Safety from any trafficker or other abuser | This outcome includes a safe rescue process as well as sustained safety from all traffickers and abusers. It is critical that survivors live free from fear that perpetrators will recapture them, find out where they live, or threaten them in some way. Safety from new perpetrators who can target victims for re-trafficking or harm them in other ways is also vital. Ongoing safety can involve multiple aspects such as: having a landline to call emergency services in a safe house; living far from traffickers and their associates; and the police being careful in the way they handle cases. This outcome includes psychological safety from traffickers. |
Access to medical treatment | This outcome is about ensuring that survivors have access to adequate services to meet their health needs. This includes having access to dental treatment. It requires, for example, having sufficient funds for transport to attend appointments and funding for therapy if this is not freely available. It also includes being registered with a GP and it could include access to culturally appropriate support. There is a desperate need for therapists to specialise in evidence-based trauma therapy to help survivors. Specific group therapies should exist for survivors to complement individual therapy. |
Access to education | Key features include access to appropriate educational institutions and the availability of free courses and colleges; not being discriminated against by educational institutions in terms of course applications and eligibility; and sufficient funds to travel for courses and legal permission to study (sometimes denied by immigration laws). Access to education also includes foundational courses for work preparedness as well as less formal learning, such as being able to learn and practice new skills e.g., IT, sewing and crafts, photography, art and design, etc. |
Compassionate, trauma-informed services | This outcome describes the need for staff who are trained and experienced in working with survivors who have traumatic histories. Survivors need to be able to trust all the professionals who work with them including police, immigration authorities, support workers, social workers, and shelter staff. This means developing trusting relationships, working to realistic expectations, supporting survivors to understand all the information they are being given, communicating to survivors in their language, and being honest. At a very basic level, this outcome is about staff treating survivors as human beings, listening to their stories and needs, and being a positive force in people’s lives. All services need to be as inclusive and sensitively delivered as possible. |
Finding purpose in life and self-actualisation | This outcome is about a feeling of optimism and fulfilment. The idea of being able to have hope to dream and desire to live is crucial, as is being able to tolerate good and bad days without fully losing this sense of hope. A key outcome feature is self- actualisation understood as the ability to follow passions in life and living life to the fullest. This could include, for example, using talents, setting goals for self- advancement, and articulating personal goals and dreams. |