Human Trafficking and Psychosocial Well-being: A Mixed-Methods Study of Returned Survivors of Trafficking in Vietnam

This study employs qualitative and quantitative approaches to examine the psychosocial issues among women survivors of trafficking who have returned to Vietnam. The quantitative study examines the relationship between trafficking abuse and psychological symptoms among a pilot sample of trafficked women who accessed a post-trafficking project at the Vietnam-China border. The results are consistent with the existing literature suggesting that greater trafficking-related abuse is associated with worse mental health. The study also reveals that trafficking experiences and mental health symptoms may be varied between women trafficked for different types of exploitation - in particular, between sex work, marriage, domestic servitude, and other trafficking types.The qualitative study illustrates the experiences and coping responses among survivors of trafficking interviewed at both the Vietnam-China and the Vietnam-Cambodia borders. Themes of being uprooted, understanding "new realities," and facing the "new normal" emerged to characterize the pre-, peri-, and post-trafficking stages, respectively. Throughout the stages, these women also exhibited a process of navigating to a renewed sense of self by employing coping strategies such as regulating emotional expression and thought, creating opportunities within constraints, and relating to cultural schemas. The synthesis study triangulates the qualitative and quantitative findings, and presents the development of an Ecological-Transitional Framework of human trafficking and health. The public health Framework posits that both human trafficking and health are influenced by multiple, interconnected ecological system levels and that there are transitional processes that affect the timing and trajectories of events and conditions as well as their significance within developmental and socio-cultural pathways. These principles are applied in the triangulation of findings from both methodological approaches in order to contextually analyze the multitude of psychosocial issues among a group of survivors of trafficking, and to identify the knowledge gaps as well as the potential solutions to address the needs of these women. The proposed Framework is the first to holistically assess the social-cultural forces that interact to contribute to the vulnerabilities and impact of human trafficking on individuals as well as their surroundings. This study contributes unique findings of the psychosocial issues associated with a group of survivors of trafficking in Vietnam. The findings, as well as the methodological and conceptual contributions, suggest some future directions for more targeted and effective public health efforts to address the causes and consequences of human trafficking in Vietnam, and potentially in other populations who face similar issues