Bridging Disciplinary Boundaries (January 11 - 14, 2007)

Introduction: Perhaps the greatest challenge in services with “street” youth (defined here as youth aged 14-24 with no current involvement with their custodial family) is engagement into treatment. Current intervention strategies almost always focus around in-person outreach, drop-in and shelter services. A recent study of street youth by the investigator had two findings that suggested an alternative strategy. First, youth recruited from street outreach within the target city were overwhelmingly local in origin (over 90% from within the metropolitan area). Second, they reported anecdotally consistent use of the internet to network with their friends. This suggested the potential for a new outreach strategy—using the internet to engage street youth as a means to improve their engagement with local providers and services.

In developing this concept, the investigator contacted a faculty in the School of Engineering with expertise in website development. This partnership yielded a new approach to development and research on the internet. The purpose of this presentation is to describe (a) the developmental process of the website, and (b) the potential of a partnership between Social Work and Engineering in creating new approaches to providing technological solutions to difficult service problems.

Methods: The development of the website used “rapid application development” methods, a stakeholder driven approach used by software engineers in which users and providers provide interactive input with website developers in creating a user-friendly product. This product is initially developed using “wireframes,” non-web-enabled pages that are tested by end-users prior to being established on the net. Subsequent usage of this product (called the “alpha” product) on the web then allows continuous product improvement by users.

Findings: The initial survey of existing websites found that available providers, both local and national, used informational strategies labeled by engineers as “electronic pamphlets.” What was called for was an interactive site, where youth would return periodically for personal interactions. Methods were identified for protecting against predators and features that would promote repeated use, including web logs (blogs), personal e-mail accounts, chat rooms, and additional features including polls and poetry. Information and links to local providers were provided as part of the page set-up.

Discussion: Although the developmental process is ongoing, the promise of both the intervention and research partnership has been evident. Previous research and the preliminary findings here suggest the potential for technological interventions, even with marginalized youth. Further, the development of the Social Work-Engineering partnership suggests a new concept in responding to the NIH-mandate to create “teams of the future.”