Technology use, service provider contact, and social relationships among homeless adults moving into PSH

Background: The widespread availability of affordable cell phones may improve health information and service access among vulnerable populations. Maintenance of digital contact may be also be a key means of maintaining service access and social support during the transition into permanent supportive housing (PSH), which may help persons retain their housing placements. Prior research has identified high rates of cell phone ownership and internet use among homeless persons (McInnes, Li & Hogan, 2013).  Methods: As part of a larger, longitudinal study, these analyses examined technology use among 130 currently homeless adults moving into PSH. Results: The vast majority of participants (94.6%) currently had a cell phone, and 99.2% reported having a phone in the past 3 months. Of those with a cell phone in the past 3 months, 32.3% reported 2+ different phones, and 28.4% reported 2+ different phone numbers in that time period. More than one-third (37.8%) used their phone to send/receive email, 48.0% accessed the internet, and 78.7% sent/received text messages. Most respondents (69.2%) reported using the internet in the past 3 months, and 36.9% reported accessing it everyday.  The majority of participants (94.6%) reported past 3-month phone contact with people in their social network, 57.7% reported text messaging with network members, 26.9% emailing, and 19.2% contact via social media. Of those who nominated a case manager as part of their social network (67.4% of the sample), 67.8% reported communicating with case managers by phone, and 9.2% via text. Of the 35.7% who included a counselor/therapist in their social network, 71.7% reported communicating with those therapists by phone, and 10.9% via text. Conclusions: These findings reaffirm previous research on the proliferation of technology use among homeless populations. Social network data indicates that cell phone access may facilitate social relationships for homeless participants; maintaining these contacts could be particularly important during the transition to PSH. These findings also suggest that cell phones and text messaging may be valuable (and in the case of texting, underused) mechanisms for maintaining communication with providers of supportive services. Texting in this population is a popular method of communication within non-provider networks, and may therefore also serve as a low-burden method for service providers to sustain supportive relationships with homeless clients. Finally, prevention programs leveraging cell phones should recognize the potential for instability in access, given that a significant subset of this population report having multiple different phones and numbers in the past 3-months.