SEX TRAFFICKING: PROGRAM EVALUATION OF HOKU GROUP SERVICES

LOREN ALLEN WELLS, MSW CANDIDATE

HAWAII PACIFIC UNIVERSITY (HPU) SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK

ABSTRACT/INTRODUCTION

• Sex trafficking is a significant problem both internationally and in the United States
• Although awareness of sex trafficking has improved over the past ten years, research has been lagging behind to improve programming and adequate care for vulnerable youth to help prevent sex trafficking and care for those who have been exploited.
• Hoku Group Services is one of 4 programs of Ho’ola Na Pua to help prevent sex trafficking and care for those who have been sexually exploited.
• Hoku Group Services is a program that helps prevent commercial sexual exploitaion of Children (CSEC)

ABSTRACT/INTRODUCTION

• Hoku Group Services teaches empowering life skills to vulnerable youth at various facilities on Oahu and the Big Island with the goal of the youth gaining and retaining the life skills to use as protective factors that would help protect them from being targeted by a sex trafficker.
• A quantitative program evaluation was done to aim the measure the correlation between the amount of sessions attended and the level of safety and comfort the participant towards the facilitator and the group.

PURPOSE

• The purpose of this study is to get data from the youth from surveys that are done quarterly to better evaluate the programs progress.
• More awareness and research in general to get more discussion going about the prevention of sex trafficking
• Better and more policies that would help prevent sex exploitation children.
• Advocate for more funding for prevention programming and care facilities to help rehabilitate those who have been sex trafficked.

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RESEARCH QUESTION

• The more Hoku Group sessions the youth attend to more comfortable they get with Hoku Facilitators and Hoku Group
• The research question hypothesized that there would be a positive correlation between the number of groups attended and increased wellbeing as measured by the Hoku survey.

METHODS

This program evaluation used a quantitative, post-test only, non-experimental design to answer the broad research question, “Does the participant’s comfort level increase over a period of time while attending more Hoku groups?” To answer this research question, a series of hypotheses was tested that used pre-existing data collected through a survey administered during the Hoku Groups

METHODS

• The following subscales were identified within the questionnaire:
• Subscale 1 Connect and safe category ( questions 3, 5, and 9),
• Subscale 2 Belonging category ( questions 4,6,8, and 12),
• Subscale 3 Support category (questions 7,17, 18, 20),
• Subscale 4 Selfcare (questions 19 and 21)
• Subscale 5 Self-image (10,11,13,14,15,and 16).

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METHODS

• The Hoku Group staff chose to focus on the subscales, along with the isolated question (#22) that prompted subjects to rate the how true was this statement “ I believe Hoku groups made a difference in my life.” Each question on this survey was scored on a 5-point Likert scale and represented a continuous scale variable, with question 20 being reverse coded

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All data was uploaded into SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) for analysis. Each of the five hypotheses was tested using a Pearson’s R correlation conducted in SPSS. Coding and calculating of all the questions on the Hoku group survey were done and entered into SPSS and a correlation was done using bivariate data with confidence levels. With my independent variable the number of Hoku Groups and my dependent variable the subscale question and question 22, the correlation results showing are connect safe group at .171, the belonging group at .144, the support group at .241, the selfcare group .296, the self-image group at .099, and the connect Hoku group (question 22) at .161. There was not a statistically significant correlation between the number of groups the youth attended and the comfort level the youth had with their facilitators using the sub-scales for data analysis.

SECONDARY ANALYSIS

• In a secondary study I compared the two facilities (A, B) that most of the Hoku Group surveys came from, then the rest of the facilities (C).
• Facility A showed better results in connection and belonging then the other facilities.

DISCUSSION/IMPLICATIONS/CONCLUSION

There were no significant findings in any of the subscales or the stand-alone question. The independent variable was how many groups the youth have been to and the dependent variable was all the questions on the survey that were clustered (sub-scales). The individual question showed positive correlations after analyzing results from SPSS. The findings were valuable because it’s a “spark” and a “foundation” study, to have further questions and discussions of the comfort level and safety the youth have with Hoku Group Services facilitators. One of the Questions that can be asked is if the amount of group sessions the youth attend may not be a factor and either feel comfortable with the facilitator or not.

DISCUSSION/IMPLICATIONS/CONCLUSION

The results are showing that the youth feel comfortable and safe in group, with facilitators regardless of how many groups they attend. Two of the youth facilities (A, B ) that had the most surveys done were compared to each other along with the rest of the youth facilities(C) showing one facility had more positive correlation results than the other youth facilities. Facility A had a significantly higher correlation score than facility B in the sub-scale of belonging (P<.024). These results can start conversations on why one facility that has Hoku groups has stronger comfort level results than others do. Also, more questions can be asked on why certain facilities have better settings for Hoku groups than others and why there are different results of comfort levels at each facility.

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REFERENCES

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