Establishing a National Research Collaborative to Examine Risk and Resilience Among Homeless Young Adults in Seven U.S. Cities

In this proposed roundtable, eight homeless youth researchers across the country will present an approach to developing a national research collaborative (Homeless Youth Risk and Resilience Study; HYRRS) between six Schools of Social Work and over a dozen homeless-youth-serving organizations. The purpose of the HYRRS is to cross-nationally examine and compare risk and resilience characteristics of homeless young adults (ages 18-26). This national, mixed-methods study in seven cities (Los Angeles, San Jose, Phoenix, St. Louis, Denver, Houston, and New York) serves as the foundation from which research-supported interventions can be developed or adapted to address the Social Work Grand Challenge to End Homelessness (GCEH) among transition-age homeless youth.

Panelists represent universities and schools of social work in each of the main census regions: Arizona State University, University of Missouri, City University of New York, University of Southern California, University of Denver, and University of Houston. Panelists also possess diverse areas of expertise related to homeless youth research, including housing, employment, mental health, substance use, health, sexual activity, interpersonal violence, social networks, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) issues.

Drawing from their diverse perspectives and viewpoints, the panelists will identify the opportunities and tensions of multi-city, university-agency research partnerships. Panelists will also feature lessons learned in recruiting host agencies, developing a Qualtrics online survey, training research assistants, conducting mixed-methods data collection, combining city-level data into a national database, sharing data locally with service providers, policymakers, and news media; and disseminating data nationally through a website.

To date, other regional or national efforts exist to understand the risk and resilience factors associated with youth homelessness (e.g., Voices of Youth Count and Midwest Longitudinal Study of Homeless Adolescents). Our approach differs from extant approaches in several ways. First, in our effort, research procedures in each city are co-led by a researcher from a school of social work and one or more social service organizations. This university-agency partnership enables service providers to engage in the research process by adding relevant survey and interview questions and co-directing the data analysis. This way, researchers and practitioners can standardize data-collection instruments to compare data across all cities and customize instruments and analyses based on the local context. Our approach also facilitates the ease of dissemination of research findings to local organizations and policymakers to inform changes to practice and policy in each city (e.g., through press releases, media interviews, infographics, and websites). Second, our approach is a model for how researchers across schools of social work can collaborate together and with local service providers in a shared field of practice to develop and implement coordinated data collection, entry, analysis, and dissemination in response to the GCEH. Third, our approach uses principles of student-centered learning to integrate social work doctoral, masters' and undergraduate students as research assistants in each aspect of the multi-city, mixed-methods study. Taken together, this approach to creating a national research collaborative in seven cities offers important evidence-informed infrastructure for the Grand Challenge to End Homelessness.