This course is based upon material published by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council of the National Academies.  The source document is the abridged version for providers of victim and support services.  The guide was also funded by the US Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.   Confronting Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States was authored by the IOM/NRC Committee on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States:

Purpose of This Guide

In September 2013, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the National Research

Council (NRC) of the National Academies published the report Confronting Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States. The purpose of that report is to:

• increase awareness and understanding of the crucial problem of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors in the United States;

• examine emerging strategies for preventing and identifying these crimes, for assisting and supporting victims and survivors, and for addressing exploiters and traffickers; and

• offer a path forward through recommendations designed to increase awareness and understanding and to support efforts to prevent, identify, and respond to these crimes.

The IOM/NRC report includes chapters on specific sectors with a role to play in addressing the problem. Because the report is lengthy and broad in its reach, the IOM/NRC, with the support of the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, decided to develop a series of guides offering a more concise and focused perspective on the problem and emerging solutions for several of these sectors.

 The intended audience for this guide is health care professionals, such as physicians, nurses, advanced practice nurses, physician assistants, mental health professionals, and dentists, who see children and adolescents for prevention and treatment of injury, illness, and disease. Ideally, these professionals would be involved in efforts focused on the prevention of victimization by these crimes and work to identify and provide treatment/referral for victims and survivors. Yet despite the potential opportunities for intervention, health care professionals often overlook or fail to identify these youth. The result can be missed opportunities for intervention and the continued perpetration of these crimes. This guide is intended to raise awareness of these opportunities so that health care professionals will be better equipped to fulfill their important role in preventing, recognizing, and responding to commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking among the youth in their care.

This course is appropriate for beginning, intermediate and advanced level practitioners who wish to develop their understanding of the commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors. The course material includes an examination of the current problem of the sexual exploitation of minors in the US and emerging strategies for preventing and identifying these crimes. The course then covers reviewed strategies for assisting and supporting victims and survivors.  This course is particularly useful for licensed clinicians who require clinical continuing education courses for license renewal.  

Authors:  Institute of Medicine / National Research Council Report

Learning Objectives: This course will provide the practitioner with detailed information regarding the sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors in the United States.  Specifically, a professional will:

• Identify strategies for identifying and prevention the sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors.
• Distinguish methods for assisting and supporting victims and survivors.
• Recognize interventions for addressing exploiters and traffickers.

Citation:  Institute of Medicine / National Research Council Report (2014). Confronting Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States:  A Guide for the Health Care Sector. National Academies Press.