(see Poster Gallery) Helping Commercially Sexually Exploited Youth: Multiple Perspectives on Complex Help-Seeking Processes

Background and Purpose: Attention to the problem of commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) of youth is on the rise in many countries in the past decade. Commercially sexually exploited youth (CSEY) are at extreme risk of various psychological, physical, and social problems. Although newly developed policies and interventions were recently designed to help CSEY exit CSE and heal from its effects, the available literature suggests that helping them is a complex task, entailing the involvement of multiple care and professional entities, and a range of specific services and interventions. The available research on helping CSEY is based almost entirely on professionals’ views and very little research has focused on help-related experiences as perceived by CSEY. Accordingly, the purpose of the present study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the help seeking processes and the help-related experiences of CSEY, from both the perspective of CSEY and help-providers (HP). Our working hypothesis was that the help-seeking processes of CSEY are non-linear, and that each group of participants would conceptualize this process differently. We used Cauce’s theoretical framework to conceptualize the main phases of help-seeking processes: problem definition, a decision to seek help, and selection of the proper help provider.

Methods: This constructivist grounded theory qualitative study was based on semi-structured interviews, focused on exploring the help-seeking processes of CSEY.

It used a purposeful sample of 51 CSEY, and 21 HP (mostly social workers). The interviews were analyzed using a grounded theory analysis approach with the help of MAXQDA software.

Results: The findings reveal discrepancy concerning the first phase of the help-seeking process – problem definition – between the two groups of participants. CSEY mainly related to their involvement in CSE as a necessity or a choice. Further, they described it mostly as a survival strategy and objected a conceptualization of their involvement in CSE as problematic. Rather, they explained that it was a solution to many other problems they had, such as homelessness or poverty. However, HP were almost unanimous in conceptualizing youth’s involvement in CSE as problematic. They argued it was the most urgent problem that their CSEY clients suffer from, and accordingly prioritized it in intervention with the youth.

Conclusions and Implications: Including both CSEY and social workers perspectives in the study yielded a multilayered understanding of the unique characteristics of beneficial help relations. Different problem definitions lead to divergent conceptualizations of needs, and accordingly impact the interventions and support that are offered to CSEY and how they are used by them. More so the two perspectives highlighted the cruciality of breaking down the formal aspects of help provision and going beyond traditional practices. Therefore, in order to promote useful and effective services and intervention policy directed at CSEY, the divergent perspectives of CSEY and HP must be taken into consideration. Further, the findings demonstrated the need to establish an understanding of help seeking processes based on the perspectives of both clients and service providers, in order to uncover gaps that may remain hidden otherwise.