Research focused on the impact of community-based services and treatment interventions designed to intervene in the lives of runaway and homeless youth has increased in the last two decades in the U.S. and internationally. In light of the tremendous need for identifying effective strategies to end homelessness and its associated problems among youth, this paper summarizes and critiques the findings of the extant literature including U.S., international, and qualitative studies. Thirty-two papers met criteria for inclusion in the review. Among the conclusions are that comprehensive interventions which target the varied and interconnected needs of these youth and families may be worthy of more study than studies that isolate the intervention focus on one problem. Also, more research incorporating design strategies that increase the reliability and validity of study findings is needed. Other preliminary conclusions and future directions are offered. Keywordsrunaway and homeless youth; interventions; service evaluation; review The first controlled evaluation of an intervention for runaway/homeless youth was conducted in 1991 and focused on HIV prevention among shelter residing adolescents (Rotheram-Borus, Koopman, Haignere, & Davies, 1991). In the 18 years since that trial, other investigators have sought to identify methods to improve the lives of runaway and homeless youth and their families. Thus, treatment development and evaluation efforts for this population are relatively recent. Early studies focused on understanding the population, their struggles, needs, experiences and etiology of homelessness. These important studies provided the requisite groundwork to develop and target intervention efforts. The primary goal of this paper is to review and summarize the findings of community-based service and intervention efforts directed towards runaway and homeless youth. A summary of the impact of such efforts is provided as well as recommendations for future research. First, current conceptualizations of runaway and homeless youth are offered.Address correspondence to Natasha Slesnick, Associate Professor, Human Development and Family Science, The Ohio State University, 1787 Neil Ave, 135 Campbell Hall, Columbus, OH 43081, phone (614) FAX (614) .edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptChild Youth Serv Rev. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 July 1. Published in final edited form as:Child Youth Serv Rev. Current ConceptualizationsIt is difficult to know how many runaway and homeless youth exist -with various ...

This randomized pilot study tested the efficacy of an integrative treatment targeting homeless substance abusing mothers with young children in their care. Sixty mothers with 2–6 year old children were recruited from a local family shelter. The mothers were randomly assigned to Ecologically-Based Treatment (n = 30) or treatment as usual (n = 30). The intervention group received 3 months of rental and utility assistance up to $600 per month, case management services, and substance abuse counseling (referred to as supportive services). The treatment as usual group received housing and services through the family shelter and community housing programs. All participants completed follow-up assessments at 3, 6, and 9 months post-baseline. Mothers receiving Ecologically-Based Treatment showed a quicker decline in alcohol frequency and a quicker increase in housing stability. Furthermore, with supportive services, two-thirds of women were successful in maintaining their apartments 6 months after rental assistance ended.

This article traces the development of the “second” and arguably more well-known “genre” of participatory action research (PAR). The article argues that the origins of PAR are highly distributed and cannot really be traced back to the ideas of a single person or even a single group of researchers. Instead, the development of PAR is tied to social movements of the 20th century, in particular land reform, anticolonialism, and need for a new research methodology, occurring simultaneously across multiple continents. The origins of PAR have little to do with the action research that developed in the United States. For that reason the PAR referent can sometimes be confusing or even misleading. We suggest that the second PAR also be recognized through its mirror concepts of vivencia, praxis, and conscientization—PAR/VPC. We discuss the core underpinnings of PAR/VPC and its evolution with strong ties to the sociopolitical context of developing societies and their fight for liberation. We also suggest our reflections of future of PAR/VPC with integration of feminist perspectives and inclusion of youth in the education movement.

Objectives To examine the efficacy of three theoretically distinct interventions among substance-abusing runaway adolescents and to explore individual differences in trajectories of change. Methods Adolescents (N=179) between the ages of 12–17 were recruited from a runaway shelter in a Midwestern city. The sample included 94 females (52.5%) and 85 males (47.5%), the majority of the adolescents were African American (n= 118, 65.9%). Adolescents were randomly assigned to the Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA, n = 57), Motivational Interviewing (MI, n = 61), or Ecologically-Based Family Therapy (EBFT, n = 61). Substance use was assessed at baseline, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months via Form 90 and urine screens. Results Hierarchical linear modeling revealed statistically significant improvement in frequency of substance use among runaways in all three treatment groups with a slight increase at post-treatment. Latent trajectory profile analysis explored individual differences in change trajectories and yielded a 3 class model. The majority of adolescents (n = 136, 76%) showed reductions in substance use over time with a slight increase at follow-up (Class 1: Decreasing). Twenty-four (13.4%) adolescents had shown high levels of substance use over time with patterns of increase and decrease (Class 2: Fluctuating high users), and 19 (10.6%) decreased but returned to baseline levels by two years post-baseline (Class 3: U shaped). Few differences among treatment conditions were noted; within the “decreasing” group, adolescents in MI treatment showed a quicker decline in their substance use but a faster relapse compared to those receiving EBFT. Conclusions These findings suggest that CRA, EBFT and MI are viable treatments for runaway substance-abusing adolescents.

No study to date has reported intimate partner violence (IPV) experiences among homeless youth. This study sought to uncover lifetime prevalence estimates of physical, sexual, and emotional IPV among a nonprobability sample of 180 homeless male and female youth in Columbus, Ohio. To that aim, self-reported IPV and the association between IPV and gender, race, age, and history of childhood abuse were examined. Results showed that physical violence and verbal abuse were the most commonly reported experiences of IPV in the current sample and ranged from 30.0% to 35.4%. Women and those with a history of childhood abuse were more likely to be victimized by their intimate partners. Specifically, multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that women were approximately twice as likely as men to be verbally and physically abused in intimate relationships. Moreover, youth who reported being victims of abuse in childhood were more than twice as likely to experience verbal abuse and physical violence in their relationships. Given the high lifetime occurrence of IPV among homeless youth, intervention efforts should target IPV to prevent future occurrence. Findings also suggest that intervention efforts should consider gender and history of childhood abuse.