Canadian Observatory on Homelessness
The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness is the largest national research institute devoted to homelessness in Canada. The COH is the curator of the Homeless Hub.
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The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness is the largest national research institute devoted to homelessness in Canada. The COH is the curator of the Homeless Hub.
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Author(s): Katie Sample, Kristin M. Ferguson
Publication Date: 2019
The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore homeless young adults’ perceptions of the systemic, situational, and intrapersonal barriers they encounter across multiple systems in trying to exit homelessness and the ways these barriers are interrelated. Thirty-one homeless young adults (ages 18–26) in Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona were recruited for in-depth interviews from two resource centers serving homeless youth. Template analysis was us...
Author(s): Kristin M. Ferguson
Publisher: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness Press
Publication Date: 2018
More than two million youth in the United States are homeless at some time each year (Whitbeck, 2009). They often have histories of depression, complex trauma, substance abuse, and physical and sexual abuse—all of which make obtaining and maintaining competitive employment difficult. Epidemiologic data indicate that 26% meet the clinical criteria for major depression, 35% have attempted suicide, and 72% use illegal substances to cope (Rotheram-Bo...
Author(s): Yeonwoo Kim, Kimberly Bender, Kristin M. Ferguson, Stephanie Begun, Diana M. DiNitto
Publication Date: 2017
Homelessness itself is traumatic, and more than half of homeless young adults have also experienced abuse as children and/or victimization while homeless. These experiences increase the likelihood of developing trauma-related symptoms and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Few studies have, however, examined correlates of trauma and PTSD to identify targets for prevention and intervention. We used multinomial logistic regression to assess whet...
Author(s): Kristin M. Ferguson
Publication Date: 2017
Purpose
This randomized controlled trial compared the efficacy between the Social Enterprise Intervention (SEI) and Individual Placement and Support (IPS) with homeless youth with mental illness to assess their impact on nonvocational outcomes.
Method
Seventy-two homeless youth were recruited from one agency and randomized to the SEI (n = 36) or IPS (n = 36) conditions. Over 20 months, SEI participants received four SEI components, and IPS partic...
Author(s): Kristin M. Ferguson
Publisher: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness
Publication Date: 2017
Previous research reveals high unemployment rates among LGBTQ2S youth experiencing homelessness. This chapter provides an overview of the vocational needs of LGBTQ2S youth experiencing homelessness and introduces the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model of supported employment as one evidence-based solution to help this population gain and maintain competitive employment. The author illustrates the chapter with findings from a pilot adapt...
Author(s): Elaine M. Maccio, Kristin M. Ferguson
Publication Date: 2016
This article identifies gaps in services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) runaway and homeless youth (RHY) and offers recommendations from the literature to fill them. Participants were 24 staff from 19 LGBTQ-RHY-serving agencies across the country. Over a 2-month period, researchers conducted 1-hour phone interviews with program staff and agency directors. Data from the interview transcripts were coded using template ana...
Author(s): Elaine M. Maccioa, Kristin M. Ferguson
Publication Date: 2016
This article identifies gaps in services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) runaway and homeless youth (RHY) and offers recommendations from the literature to fill them. Participants were 24 staff from 19 LGBTQ-RHY-serving agencies across the country. Over a 2-month period, researchers conducted 1-h phone interviews with program staff and agency directors. Data from the interview transcripts were coded using template analys...
Author(s): Kristin M. Ferguson, Elaine M. Maccio
Publication Date: 2015
This qualitative study identified promising programs across the United States for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) runaway and homeless youth (RHY). Twenty-four administrative staff and service providers from 19 nonprofit organizations serving LGBTQ RHY participated in telephone interviews about promising programs, service gaps, and recommendations for practice, policy, and research for LGBTQ RHY. Researchers use...
Author(s): Sanna J. Thompson, Kimberly Bender, Kristin M. Ferguson, Yeonwoo Kim
Publication Date: 2015
This study aimed to identify homeless youths’ lifestyle and trauma-related risk factors as well as protective factors associated with alcohol use disorder or no disorder and drug use disorder or no disorder. Youth receiving homeless services in Denver (n = 201), Austin (n = 200), and Los Angeles (n = 200; N = 601) completed quantitative interviews assessing demographic information, alcohol and drug use, homeless lifestyle risk factors, trauma-rel...
Author(s): Kristin M. Ferguson, Kimberly Benderb, Sanna J. Thompson
Publication Date: 2015
This study examined gender differences among homeless young adults’ coping strategies and homelessness stressors as they relate to legal (e.g., full-time employment, selling personal possessions, selling blood/plasma) and illegal economic activity (e.g., selling drugs, theft, prostitution). A sample of 601 homeless young adults was recruited from 3 cities (Los Angeles, CA [n = 200], Austin, TX [n = 200], and Denver, CO [n = 201]) to participate i...
Author(s): Kimberly Bender, Samantha M. Brown, Sanna J. Thompson, Kristin M. Ferguson, Lisa Langenderfer
Publication Date: 2015
Exposure to multiple forms of maltreatment during childhood is associated with serious mental health consequences among youth in the general population, but limited empirical attention has focused on homeless youth—a population with markedly high rates of childhood maltreatment followed by elevated rates of street victimization. This study investigated the rates of multiple childhood abuses (physical, sexual, and emotional abuse) and multiple str...
Author(s): Kristin M. Ferguson, Nadia Islam
Publication Date: 2008
This qualitative evaluation of the Social Enterprise Intervention (SEI), a vocational training program for homeless young adults, used summative focus-group data to understand clients' perceptions of outcomes as a result of SEI participation. Data from formative focus-group discussions were also used to assess the intervention process and make necessary changes during the program. Over four months, two process- and one outcomes-oriented focus-gro...
Author(s): Jamie Rae Yoder, Kimberly Bender, Sanna J. Thompson, Kristin M. Ferguson, Badiah Haffejee
Publication Date: 2014
Homeless youth are at increased risk for involvement in the criminal justice system. This study investigated childhood trauma as a risk factor for arrest or jail among a sample of youth seeking services at drop in, shelter, and transitional housing settings, while controlling for more established risk factors including: substance use, peer deviance, and engagement in survival behaviors. Standardized and researcher developed measures collected qua...
Author(s): Kimberly A. Bender, Sanna J. Thompson, Kristin M. Ferguson, Jamie R. Yoder, Leah Kern
Publication Date: 2013
Previous research documents that street-involved youth experience rates of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that are significantly higher than their housed counterparts. Trauma and PTSD are of particular concern for homeless youth as they can negatively affect youths’ ability to function adaptively and to transition off the streets. This mixed-methods study investigates the intricacies of trauma experienced by homeless youth across...
Author(s): Kristin M. Ferguson, Bin Xie
Publication Date: 2008
Objective: To reduce mental health symptoms and high-risk behaviors and increase social support and service utilization among street-living youth, the authors conducted a pilot study to assess the feasibility of the social enterprise intervention (SEI) at a homeless youth agency.
Method: Convenience sampling was used to recruit 16 street-living youth from the agency. SEI participants received 7 months of vocational and small business training an...
Author(s): Kristin M. Ferguson, Kimberly Bender, Sanna J. Thompson
Publication Date: 2013
This study identified predictors of transience among homeless emerging adults in three cities. A total of 601 homeless emerging adults from Los Angeles, Austin, and Denver were recruited using purposive sampling. Ordinary least squares regression results revealed that significant predictors of greater transience include White ethnicity, high school degree or equivalent, homeless residence in the 6 months prior to the study, longer period of homel...
Author(s): Kristin M. Ferguson
Publication Date: 2013
Prior research reveals high unemployment rates among homeless youth. The literature offers many examples of using evidence-informed and evidence-based supported employment models with vulnerable populations to assist them in obtaining and maintaining employment and concurrently addressing mental health challenges. However, there are few examples to date of these models with homeless youth with mental illness. The purpose of this article was thus...
Author(s): Kristin M. Ferguson, Kimberly Bender, Sanna J. Thompson, Bin Xie, David Pollio
Publication Date: 2012
Research suggests that in comparison with their housed peers, homeless young adults have disproportionately greater involvement in criminal activity, including theft, property offenses, and illicit substance use (Baer, Peterson, & Wells, 2004; Thompson, Jun, Bender, Ferguson, & Pollio, 2010). Because 20% to 30% of the nearly 2 million homeless young people have arrest histories (O'Grady & Gaetz, 2004; Whitbeck, 2009), a co...
Author(s): Kristin M. Ferguson, Kimberly. Bender, Sanna J. Thompson, Bin. Xie, David. Pollio
Publication Date: 2012
This study identifies mental health and situational predictors of arrest history among homeless youth in four U.S. cities. Using convenience sampling, we recruited 188 homeless youths from shelters, drop-in centers, and street outreach using similar methods. The youths, aged 18–24, came from Los Angeles, California (n = 50), Denver, Colorado (n = 50), New Orleans, Louisiana (n = 50), and St. Louis, Missouri (n = 38). General strain theory provide...
Author(s): Kristin M. Ferguson
Publication Date: 2010
Despite the growing integration of supported employment within the mental health system in the United States as well as the widespread use of social enterprises abroad, the fields of mental health and social enterprises remain largely separate in the USA. The mental health field currently lacks a response that strengthens homeless youths’ existing human and social capital, provides them with marketable job skills and employment, and impacts their...