Frances Recknor

• Doctor of Public Health
• Professor (Assistant) at Baylor College of Medicine

Background Sex trafficking is highly prevalent, pernicious, and under-recognized. When an individual is trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation within the borders of a single country, it is termed domestic sex trafficking. Sex trafficked persons can experience severe physical and mental health outcomes requiring medical attention and trea...

Health care providers are highly likely to encounter persons who have been domestically sex trafficked and, therefore, possess valuable insights that could be useful in understanding and improving existing services and supports. In-depth interviews were conducted with 31 health care providers residing and working in Canada’s largest province, Ontar...

Background: Sex trafficking of persons, a pervasive public health issue disproportionately affecting the most marginalized within society, often leads to health as well as social consequences. Social service provision to meet the resulting needs is critical, however, little is known about the current pandemic’s impact on providers’ capacity to deli...

Domestic sex trafficking is an emergent area of study with problematic gaps in our understanding of the challenges that inhibit client recovery. As social service providers are often on the frontlines of care provision, in this study, we explored the challenges they experienced when serving domestically sex trafficked adolescents and adults. Semi-s...

Background: Child labor trafficking is a largely unexplored and unpublished phenomenon in the United States. Objective: To 1) characterize the state of the science on child labor trafficking, and 2) identify empirical information regarding risk and protective factors, and physical/behavioral health needs of labor-trafficked children/adolescents....

Human trafficking is increasingly recognized as a significant global public health issue. Human trafficking (HT) exists in all nations, including Canada, and is estimated to impact 25 million people globally. HT is a crime that is not always visible. It is associated with a myriad of deleterious health outcomes arising from adverse living and worki...

Human trafficking is a crime associated with serious adverse health and mental health outcomes. It has been estimated that more than 40 million people worldwide have been victimized, which has resulted in high rates of traumatic injuries, unwanted and high-risk pregnancies, mental illness, substance use disorders; and suicidality among trafficked p...

Human trafficking, although commonly conceived of as a crime, is also a matter for the fields of health and public health. Trafficked individuals suffering physical, sexual, and/or psychological abuse can experience acute and chronic health sequelae, bringing them to the attention of health and/or mental health professionals. Communicable infection...

This study explored health-care providers’ perspectives on practitioner-related factors that can challenge their ability to identify adult victims of labor and sex trafficking seeking medical attention in the U.S. health-care system. Forty-four interviews were conducted with health-care professionals in Houston, Texas, between June 2015 and Februar...

The purpose of this dissertation project was to explore the public health and health care sector responses to the trafficking of adults for labor and sex. Ninety public health, health care, and victim service providers from the Houston metropolitan area participated in semi-structured interviews between June 2015 and February 2016. Two articles wer...