Research Alert: New Systematic Research Review

Study Reviews Programs and Policies Addressing Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Youth

Editor’s note: From time to time on the NMRC Blog we will cross-post announcements about research studies on mentoring drawing from the research listserv run by NMRC Research Board Chair Dr. David DuBois. Today we offer a quick glance at a new study that critically examines research exploring the effectiveness of policies and programs designed to address the commercial sexual exploitation of youth, as well as their adoption, implementation, reach, and sustainability. It serves as a complement to the NMRC review of mentoring for youth with backgrounds of involvement in commercial sex activity, by the same authors.

This study by David DuBois and Jennifer Felner, entitled “Addressing the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Youth: A Systematic Review of Program and Policy Evaluations,” uses a framework called RE-AIM from the field of public health to systematically analyze the evaluations of programs and policies that address the issue of commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth (CSECY). The results of the study indicate that there is limited quality data available about the effectiveness and implementation of these programs and policies, and that there is a need for more comprehensive and rigorous evaluation of programs and policies that influence youth who have been impacted by commercial sexual exploitation.

Does your youth development or mentoring program serve youth with backgrounds of commercial sexual exploitation? If so, does it address their needs in a targeted way? How might you evaluate the effectiveness of your program in serving this population of young people? We encourage you to share your ideas by commenting here.