Reaching non-system connected, substance abusing homeless youth

描述（由申请人提供）：正如联合国前秘书长科菲·安南所说：“年轻人应该站在全球变革和创新的最前沿。她们被赋予权力，可以成为发展与和平的关键推动者。然而，如果他们被留在社会的边缘，我们所有人都将陷入贫困。让我们确保所有年轻人都有充分参与社会生活的机会。”无家可归的青年是世界上最脆弱的群体之一。由于难以确定这类青年，对每年经历无家可归的青年人数的估计是粗略的。然而，无家可归在美国并不罕见，估计有170万无家可归的年轻人（Sedlak, Finkelhor, Hammer, & Schultz, 2002）。鉴于青年无家可归与药物使用、艾滋病毒风险、缺乏教育、身心健康问题有关，确定使无家可归青年参与的战略是预防/干预工作的一个重要重点。这种关注可能会防止长期无家可归、药物滥用和成年后的精神疾病，并可能对公共卫生产生重大影响。那些为那些与家庭和系统隔绝的年轻人的无家可归轨迹提供干预指导的人，建议以社区为基础的项目和资金，将这些年轻人与学校、住房和就业联系起来（Chamberlain & MacKenzie, 2004）。许多人注意到需要为流浪青年提供外展、收容中心和重返社会服务（Robertson, 1991; Slesnick et al., 2008）。本研究为外展干预提供了第一个正式测试

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): As noted by Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General "Young people should be at the forefront of global change and innovation. Empowered, they can be key agents for development and peace. If, however, they are left on society's margins, all of us will be impoverished. Let us ensure that all young people have every opportunity to participate fully in the lives of their societies." Homeless youth are one of the mot vulnerable populations worldwide. Estimates of the number of youth that experience homelessness each year are crude given difficulties identifying such youth. However, homelessness is not uncommon in the United States with an estimated 1.7 million homeless youth (Sedlak, Finkelhor, Hammer, & Schultz, 2002).Given that youth homelessness is associated with substance use, HIV risk, lack of education, mental and physical health problems, identification of strategies to engage homeless youth is an important focus of prevention/intervention efforts. Such focus might prevent chronic homelessness, substance use and mental illness into adulthood and can have significant public health consequences. Those who provide guidance for intervening in the homeless trajectory of youth who are cut-off from family and the system, recommend community based programs and funding to link these youth back to school, housing and employment (Chamberlain & MacKenzie, 2004). Many note the need for outreach, drop-in centers and reintegration services for street living youth (Robertson, 1991; Slesnick et al., 2008). This study provides the first formal test of an outreach intervention for substance abusing homeless youth who are not connected to services. Non- service connected homeless youth (N = 60) will be randomly assigned to one of two outreach conditions with the goal to engage youth to either a crisis shelter or to a drop-in center. The outreach worker will meet with the youth for 6 months to assist the youth's navigation of the service system. Follow-up will be conducted at 3, 6 and 9 months post-baseline. If successful, this study will provide important documentation of successful strategies to reach and engage these vulnerable youth into services. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The literature is characterized by a dearth of information regarding the impact of outreach on engaging non-service connected, substance abusing homeless youth into services. And, no longitudinal information is available regarding the impact of outreach interventions that link youth to services on substance use and other outcomes. This study seeks to address these gaps with the goal to identify effective strategies to reconnect homeless youth to existing services and to reduce associated problem behaviors such as substance abuse, HIV risk, housing, mental and physical health problems.