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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Jane L. Powers, PhD, Family Life Development Center, Cornell University, Beebe Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, 6072553993, jlp5@cornell.edu

What happens when young people are so completely disconnected during adolescence that they become invisible to the larger community? These are the youth whom we wanted to find and learn more about: they are homeless adolescents --- probably the most disenfranchised young people in society. In order to reach and understand this hidden population, most of whom don't trust adults or traditional service systems, we used a participatory research approach. This involved engaging a group of formerly homeless youth as research partners to study the nature and extent of youth homelessness in an upstate New York community. The youth researchers were involved in all aspects of the project, from designing the tools and methodology, to recruiting subjects, collecting the data, interpreting the findings, and presenting results to key community stakeholders. The approach will be described, including the methods used to engage and sustain youth participation in the research, and effective strategies for overcoming barriers which were faced in this process. The potential application of these methods to other settings with homeless populations will be examined. Finally, the multiple benefits of engaging young people in the process of generating and interpreting knowledge will be discussed as a strategy to promote positive youth development, advance research, impact policy, and improve services for homeless youth.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify methods for overcoming barriers of engaging homeless youth as research partners.
• Recognize benefits of using a participatory research approach to better understand homelessness
• Develop preliminary plan on how to engage homeless populations in the study of issues which impact their lives

Keywords: Adolescents, Homelessness

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No