The role of leisure in psychosocial intervention with victims of trafficking: a systematic review of interventions

Abstract

Introduction: Human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation amounts to slavery, and is characterised by a high degree of violence, requiring psychosocial intervention to provide resources focussed on the psychosocial recovery of the victims. For this purpose, leisure is a therapeutic resource that allows dealing with traumatic stressors and addresses the stigmas suffered by sexual victims, thus moving away from extended assistance and palliative interventions. However, interventions that incorporate therapeutic leisure seem to be uncommon. Objective: To carry out a systematic review of the published works regarding interventions with female victims of sexual exploitation which consider therapeutic leisure. Methodology: The databases Psicodoc, PsycInfo, and Sociological Abstract are reviewed, using the keywords, in Spanish, víctimas sexuales o prostitutas, intervención, ocio and, in English, sexual victim or prostitute, intervention, leisure. Results: A total of 725 publications were identified, mainly of sociological orientation. After screening, 19 papers remained, which were also discarded after an analysis of their content. Discussion: The results reflect how psychosocial interventions aimed at recovering victims of sexual violence in their entirety are neither documented nor registered in scientific databases. Conclusions: Having highlighted the significant degree of neglect in the recovery of victims of human trafficking, there is a need to spread and facilitate experiences in the management of therapeutic leisure as a tool for intervention in this group.