Counting and Surveying Homeless Youth: Recommendations from YouthCount 2.0!, a Community-Academic Partnership

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Sociology
• Community Health

Background:

• Homeless youth face significant health disparities and unmet needs.
• Accurate enumeration and health assessments are crucial for effective interventions.
• Community-academic partnerships can improve outreach to this population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To detail the methodology and lessons learned from a community/academic partnership to count and survey homeless youth.
• To identify the health needs and risk behaviors of homeless youth.
• To provide recommendations for future research and outreach efforts.

Main Methods:

• A 4-week recruitment period was used to count and survey homeless youth.
• Broader inclusion criteria captured youth in unstable housing situations.
• Data collection involved student volunteers and partnerships with community agencies.

Main Results:

• 632 homeless youth were counted, and 420 completed in-depth health surveys.
• Survey data covered reasons for homelessness, public system involvement, mental health, sexual behaviors, health status, and substance use.
• Successful recruitment strategies included extended counting periods and targeting high-risk youth events.

Conclusions:

• Combining research data collection with enumeration efforts is recommended.
• Certain recruitment strategies, like respondent-driven sampling, were less effective.
• The study highlights the importance of tailored approaches to reach and survey homeless youth.