Transcript Information and Communication Technologies Use By Homeless

Information and
Communication Technologies
Use By Homeless Individuals
David A. Patterson, PhD1, Caitlin T. Ensley, MSW2, Lisa
Higginbotham, MSW3, Stacia M. West, MSW4 and
Roger M. Nooe, PhD5
(1)Professor and Director, University of Tennessee, (2)Program Coordinator, Mental Health Association of E. TN, (3) Data
Analyst, University of Tennessee, (4)Ph.D. Student, University of Kansas, (5)Director of Community Services, Knox County
Public Defenders Community Law Office
Information and Communication
Technologies Use By Homeless Individuals
Background and Purpose
Methods
Results
Conclusions and Implications
Background and Purpose
Longevity for homeless individuals attenuated by
Disabilities
Insufficient and unavailable housing
Loss of SROs
Escalating cost of rent
Social alienation
ICT tools foster
Social connectivity
Employment
Access to resources.
Background and Purpose
U.S. Census (2013) found 74.4% of U.S. households
surveyed had Internet access at home.
U.S. Census (2013) indicates variation in ICT use and
access related to
Age
Race
Education
Income
Disability
Education
Background and Purpose
Limited research to date on technology and social media
usage in the general homeless population.
Philadelphia study of 100 men and women found 44%
cell phone ownership (Eyrich-Garg, 2010)
All respondents (N=17) used a cell phone and identified
them as important in staying connected to friends,
family, services, and government agencies (GoodwinSmith & Myatt, 2013)
In a study of women in an emergency shelter, all
participants (N=25) used a computer at the shelter
weekly, and 72% reported using a computer at other
locations each week. Additionally, 47% of those sampled
reported use of social networking sites (Le Dantec et al.,
2011).
Background and Purpose
Homeless Youth and ICT
Technology use is extremely common for homeless and
runaway youth (RHY) (Pollio, Batey, Bender, Ferguson, &
Thompson, 2013)
Homeless youth utilize the Internet to look for health and
sexual information (Barman-Adhikari & Rice, 2011)
The Internet and other social media avenues can also
serve as potent resources for homeless youth in meeting
their social and instrumental needs (Rice & BarmanAdhikari, 2014)
Technology has also been utilized as an intervention tool
with homeless youth, using it to strengthen client-staff
relationships and to help youth find employment
(Hendry et al., 2011)
Background and Purpose
Technology Use and the Health of Homeless Individuals
Homeless individuals are a high-risk population,
experiencing high morbidity and mortality, with a standard
mortality rate between 3 and 15 times that of the general
population, dependent on location, age, and other
characteristics (O’Connell, 2005).
Cell phones used with homeless patients with co-occurring
substance use and psychiatric disorders to give daily
reminders regarding medication adherence resulted in all
participants reporting 100% adherence to the prescribed
medication regimen (Burda, Haack, Duarte, & Alemi,2012).
Research Questions
What is the level of ICT usage in a sample of
individuals currently experiencing homelessness?
What sociodemographic factors are associated with
ICT use in this population?
H1: There will be an inverse relationship between age
and ICT.
H2: Minority status, lower educational attainment,
chronic health conditions, and unemployment will be
inversely associated with ICT.
Methods
Knoxville/Knox County Biennial Study of Homelessness conducted
every other year since 1986.
2014 Survey included 141 questions to determine nature and extent of
homelessness in Knoxville-Knox County, TN.
236 homeless individuals interviewed between January 30 and February
4, 2014.
Data collection sites included 12 agencies, multiple homeless camps and
street locations.
Survey instrument included questions on history of homelessness,
demographics, physical and mental health, education, social support, and
ICT usage.
Subjects were asked about their access to and usage of email, cell phones,
Internet, Facebook and other social network sites.
Methods
Forty-one trained interviewers administered the
surveys.
Subjects were given $3.00 for agreeing to be
interviewed.
All respondents were advised of their right not to
participate and of their right to refuse to answer any
question.
170 surveys were completed via a web-based form.
66 paper-based surveys were completed.
Methods
Measures
•
•
Demographic covariates; drug and alcohol use; health
status
Constructed summative dependent variable of
technology use
Data Analysis
Data were cleaned and coded in SPSS v20.
Correlations
Multiple regression
Sample
Table 1
Sample characteristics of study respondents (N=236 )
Covariates
Homeless sample
Demographic Variables
Race
White
73
Nonwhite
26
Sex
Male
65
Female
35
Drug addiction
14
Alcoholism
24
Nerves
62
Chronic health condition
47
Employed
16
Age
43.92 (12.223)
Dependent Variable
Technology use (summative)
6.63(6.37)
Types of ICT Used
Some form of ITC
Cell
Internet
Email
Facebook
Other
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Results
Table 3: Multiple Regression predicting ICT use (N=209)
Items
B
t-value
S.E.
(Constant)
10.928
4.964
2.202
Age
-.125**
-3.295
.038
.032
.280
.113
-1.347**
-2.233
.603
Male
-.947
-1.018
.930
White
1.137
1.354
1.003
2.743**
2.333
1.176
Chronic health condition
1.389
1.492
.931
Nerves
1.224
1.314
.931
Alcoholism
-.681
-1.027
.664
Years of education
Drug addiction
Employed
R2
.121
n
209
Discussion
Notable disparities were found in ICT usage between
reported U.S. statistics and study sample
Cell phone usage 90% vs. 64% (Pew Research, 2014)
Internet usage 74.4% vs. 52% (U.S. Census 2013)
Email usage 91% vs. 41% (Pew Research, 2012)
Facebook usage 57% vs. 35% (Pew Research, 2014)
Findings are consistent with U.S. Census (2013) indicating
an inverse relationship between age and ICT use.
H2 was only partially supported.
Unemployment and drug addiction were negatively correlated
with ITC.
Gender, education, minority status, and chronic health issues
were not predictive of ICT usage
Implications
Interventions fostering increased ICT usage among homeless
individuals can at least partially redress the economic, social,
and informational poverty that are the unfortunate hallmarks
of homelessness.
ICT interventions could include…
Provision of ICT training and access to shelter and transitional
housing residents
Library-based ICT training programs for skills development as
well as housing resources and job searches
Mobile technology-assisted outreach linking healthcare providers
and homeless individuals (McInnes, Sawh, Petrakis, Rao,
Shimada, Eyrich-Garg, Gifford, Anaya & Smelson, 2014)
Study Limitations
Non-probability convenience sample.
Limited power/small sample size prevented parsing out by type
of technology use.