Outreach with street-involved youth: a quantitative and qualitative review of the literature.
Outreach workers meet with street-involved youth in their environment, and attempt to engage them in services vital to their well-being. The goal of this study is to conduct a systematic review of both the quantitative and qualitative research that explores outreach with street-involved youth. Using 16 outreach programs with quantitative information, our meta-analysis found that 63% of youth who are contacted through outreach later participate in the offered service. Our meta-synthesis of 31 qualitative articles on outreach uncovered 13 themes across 4 conceptual domains of interest. Themes pertaining to the therapeutic relationship, flexibility, and youth-centric programming had a large presence among the majority of the articles. Outreach with street-involved youth, when characterized through a strong bond between worker and youth, is an effective strategy for involving youth in agency services.
York University, 5022 TEL, 4700 Keele St., Toronto ON, Canada M3J 1P3. Connolly@yorku.ca
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D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000367:Age Factors; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D018453:Homeless Youth / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult