A longitudinal evaluation of a survivor-mentor program for child survivors of sex trafficking in the United States

Commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) of children is a significant public health and criminal justice problem, but there are few evaluated models of CSE mentorship service. To assess whether youth who participated in a CSE survivor-mentor program evidenced changes in CSE victimization, dating abuse victimization, health, delinquency, social support, and coping during the year following their enrollment in the program. 41 youth who were CSE-experienced at baseline (72%) or determined very high risk, 11–18 years old, 95% female, 58% heterosexual, 29% White, 29% Hispanic, and 42% other races/ethnicities. An urban city in the Northeast United States. We used a one-group repeated measures design and a GEE analysis. Data were collected at baseline, six months after baseline (71% follow-up) and 12 months after baseline (68% follow-up). At baseline 72% could be characterized as CSE-experienced, while at 6 months the percentage decreased to 24% (p