Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Masuma Bahora, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd, Atlanta, GA 30322, 314-369-4045, mbahora@sph.emory.edu

Low admission and retention rates among homeless youth in substance use treatment facilities warrant a closer examination to identify factors that contribute to this alarming trend. This trend is especially salient given that many of these youth are at a substantially higher risk for transitioning into an older, and often harder to reach, homeless population. Available prevalence studies describe the breadth of the issue but fail to adequately address the larger context in which these youth operate. Consequently, service providers are left with very few studies that delve into the experiences, perceptions, and motivations surrounding personal substance use among this population. To capture these narratives, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 29 non-shelter based street youth, aged 14-25 years old, in Berkeley, California during the summer of 2005. Topics covered included daily life structure, perceptions of substance use and addiction, the temporal aspects of homelessness, and behavior change processes. The constant comparison method, common in grounded theory, guided the data analysis. The study findings are important for the development of appropriate services targeting homeless youth and they serve as baseline findings for policy makers, as well as social and health care providers.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the various components necessary in developing a tailored substance use treatment program for homeless youth.
• Describe the relevancy of evaluating existing substance use treatment programs using qualitative methodology and grounded theory
• Recognize appropriate areas of prevention and intervention for homeless youth, based on their perspective

Keywords: Substance Abuse, Homelessness

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No