homelessness – Youth Wellness Lab

“This research is cool”: Engaging youth experiencing homelessness in research on reproductive and sexual health. Begun, S.., Weber, A., Spring, J., Arora, S., Frey, C., & Fortin, A.

RESOURCE Begun, S.., Weber, A., Spring, J., Arora, S., Frey, C., & Fortin, A. (2020). “This research is cool”: Engaging youth experiencing homelessness in research on reproductive and sexual health. Social Work in Public Health, 35(5), 271-281. doi: 10.1080/19371918.2020.1791296 Purpose The goal of this research was to challenge narratives that depict homeless youth as difficult to engage in programs and initiatives. There is also a lack of research examining the reproductive and sexual health of homeless youth and understanding their perspectives of their involvement in research. Theory The homeless population has often been excluded from several services due to the commonly held belief that they are difficult to engage. Studies have [...]

Social support and pregnancy attitudes among youth experiencing homelessness. Begun, S., Barman-Adhikari, A., O’Connor, C., & Rice, E. (2020)

RESOURCE Begun, S., Barman-Adhikari, A., O’Connor, C., & Rice, E. (2020). Social support and pregnancy attitudes among youth experiencing homelessness. Children & Youth Services Review, 113. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104959 Purpose Youth experiencing homelessness demonstrate high rates of pregnancy and pregnancy involvement. Some homeless youth such as homeless women view pregnancy positively; research has depicted this group’s pro-pregnancy attitudes as a function of youth being in desperate need of resources, such as money, food, clothing, housing, and healthcare. However, knowledge of the association between youths’ receipt of specific sources and types of social support and their pregnancy attitudes is limited. The study’s core focus was to examine whether specific forms of social [...]

“I know they would kill me”: Abortion attitudes and experiences among youth experiencing homelessness. Begun, S., Combs, K. M., Schwan, K., Torrie, M., & Bender, K.

RESOURCE Begun, S., Combs, K. M., Schwan, K., Torrie, M., & Bender, K. (in press). “I know they would kill me”: Abortion attitudes and experiences among youth experiencing homelessness. Youth & Society, 52(8), 1457-1478. doi: 10.1177/0044118X18820661 A significant amount of studies show that the most difficult challenge associated with youth homelessness is making decisions surrounding pregnancy. Compared to youth who are housed, pregnancy rates within the homeless youth population is 4-8 times higher. Although, a significant amount of research has been conducted on the experiences of pregnancy among this group, a gap continues to exist in the research on abortion related experiences of homeless youth. A phenomenological study was conducted to investigate decision-making processes, abortion attitudes and day-to-day experiences of homeless youth in the United States with a focus on how [...]

Homeless youths’ interests in social action via Photovoice. Bender, K., Begun, S., Dunn, K., DeChants, J., & Mackay, E.

RESOURCE Bender, K., Begun, S., Dunn, K., DeChants, J., & Mackay, E. (2018). Homeless youths’ interests in social action via Photovoice. Journal of Community Practice, 26(1), 107-120. doi: 10.1080/10705422.2017.1413027 Purpose Homeless youth have been viewed as difficult to engage, which may play a role on the lack of photovoice specific research among this population. They may not be as engaged with such approaches as they carry a mistrust towards service providers, and may view service providers as judgmental. Photovoice approaches have a goal to involve youth, provide them with the opportunity to feel empowered and reflect on social issues that they want to see improvements in. Thus, this study examines the motivating factors that may encourage homeless youth to participate in photovoice, the kinds of social [...]