Objective: To reduce mental health symptoms and high-risk behaviors and increase social support and service utilization among street-living youth, the authors conducted a pilot study to assess the feasibility of the social enterprise intervention (SEI) at a homeless youth agency. Method: Convenience sampling was used to recruit 16 street-living youth from the agency. SEI participants received 7 months of vocational and small business training and service referrals. A comparison sample of 12 agency youth was used. Results: Findings from independent sample t tests demonstrate that SEI participants displayed significant improvements at 9 months in life satisfaction, family contact, peer support, and depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Preliminary findings suggest that the SEI was feasible within the agency setting and associated with higher mental health and social outcomes.
Achenbach, T.M. (1997). Manual for the young adult self-report and young adult behavior checklist. Burlington: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.
2.
Bao, W.N., Whitbeck, L.B., & Hoyt, D.R. (2000). Abuse, support, and depression among homeless and runaway adolescents. Journal of Health and Social Behavior , 41, 408-420.
3.
Benson, P.L. (2003). Developmental assets and asset-building community: Conceptual and empirical foundations. In R. M. Lerner & P. L. Benson (Eds.), Developmental assets and asset-building communities: Implications for research, policy, and practice (pp. 19-43). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
4.
Benson, P.L., Scales, P.C., Leffert, N., & Roehlkepartain, E.C. (1999). A fragile foundation: The state of developmental assets among American youth. Search Institute report . Minneapolis, MN: Search Institute .
5.
Bond, G.R., Resnick, S.G., Drake, R.E., Xie, H., McHugo, G.J., & Bebout, R.R. (2001). Does competitive employment improve nonvocational outcomes for people with severe mental illness?Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 69, 489-501.
6.
Cauce, A.M., Paradise, M., Ginzler, J.A., Embry, L., Morgan, C.J., Lohr, Y., et al. (2000). The characteristics and mental health of homeless adolescents: Age and gender differences. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 8, 230-239.
7.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
8.
De Rosa, C.J., Montgomery, S.B., Kipke, M.D., Iverson, E., Ma, J.L., & Unger, J.B. (1999). Service utilization among homeless and runaway youth in Los Angeles, California: Rates and reasons. Journal of Adolescent Health, 24, 449-458.
9.
Diener, E., Emmons, R.A., Larsen, R.J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71-75.
10.
Ferguson, K., & Islam, N. (in press). Conceptualizing outcomes with street-living young adults: Grounded theory approach to evaluating the Social Enterprise Intervention . Qualitative Social Work: Research and Practice.
11.
Gaetz, S., & O'Grady, B. (2002). Making money: Exploring the economy of young homeless workers. Work, Employment & Society, 16(3), 433-456.
12.
Gambrill, E. (1999). Evidence-based practice: An alternative to authority-based practice. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, 80(4), 341-350.
13.
Gibbs, L., & Gambrill, E. (2002). Evidence-based practice: Counterarguments to objections . Research on Social Work Practice, 12, 452-476.
14.
Gwadz, M., & Rotheram-Borus, M.J. (1992). Tracking high-risk adolescents longitudinally. AIDS Education and Prevention , Fall(Suppl.), 69-82.
15.
Harnois, G., & Gabriel, P. (2000). Mental health and work: Impact, issues and good practices. World Health Organization and International Labor Organization. Geneva: World Health Organization.
16.
Hedges, L.V. (1981). Distribution theory for Glass's estimator of effect size and related estimators. Journal of Educational Statistics , 6, 107-128.
17.
Institute for the Study of Homelessness and Poverty. (2004, August). Just the facts: Homelessness in Los Angeles . Los Angeles, CA: ISHP.
18.
Jenson, J.M. (2005). Connecting science to intervention: Advances, challenges, and the promise of evidence-based practice (Editorial). Social Work Research, 29, 131-135.
19.
Karabanow, J., & Clement, P. (2004). Interventions with street youth: A commentary on the practice-based research literature. Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention, 4, 93-108.
20.
Kipke, M.D., & Iverson, E. (1995). AIDS evaluation of street outreach project: A profile of street youth in Hollywood. Los Angeles, CA: Division of Adolescent Medicine, Children's HospitalLos Angeles.
21.
Kipke, M.D., O'Connor, S., Palmer, R., & MacKenzie, R.G. (1995). Street youth in Los Angeles: Profile of a group at high risk for Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection . Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine, 149, 513-519.
22.
Kipke, M.D., Unger, J.B., O'Connor, S., Palmer, R.E., & LaFrance, S.R. (1997). Street youth, their peer group affiliation and differences according to residential status, subsistence patterns, and use of services. Adolescence, 32, 655-669.
23.
Kipke, M.D., Unger, J.B., Palmer, R.F., & Edgington, R. (1996). Drug use, needle sharing, and HIV risk among injection drug-using street youth. Substance Use and Misuse, 31, 1167-1187.
24.
Leonard, N.R., Lester, P., Rotheram-Borus, M.J., Mattes, K., Gwadz, M., & Ferns, B. (2003). Successful recruitment and retention of participants in longitudinal behavioral research. AIDS Education and Prevention , 15, 269-281.
25.
Midgley, J., & Livermore, M. (2004). Social development: Lessons from the global south . In M. C. Hokenstad & J. Midgley (Eds.), Lessons from abroad: Adapting international social welfare innovations (pp. 117-135). Washington, DC: NASW Press.
26.
Minkler, M., & Wallerstein, N. (2003). Community-based participatory research for health. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
27.
Morse, G.A., Calsyn, R.J., Miller, J., Rosenberg, P., Gilliland, J., & West, L. (1996). Outreach to homeless mentally ill people: Conceptual and clinical considerations. Community Mental Health Journal , 32, 261-274.
28.
Mueser, K.T., Becker, D.R., Torrey, W.C., Xie, H., Bond, G.R., Drake, R.E., et al. (1997). Work and nonvocational domains of functioning in persons with severe mental illness: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, 185, 419-426.
29.
Murray, R., Baier, M., North, C., Lato, M., & Eskew, C. (1997). One-year status of homeless mentally ill clients who completed a transitional residential program. Community Mental Health Journal, 33, 43-50.
30.
Pollio, D.E., Thompson, S.J., & North, C.S. (2000). Agency-based tracking of difficult-to-follow populations: Runaway and homeless youth programs in St. Louis, Missouri. Community Mental Health Journal, 36, 247-258.
31.
Raleigh-DuRoff, C. (2004). Factors that influence homeless adolescents to leave or stay living on the street. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 21, 561-571.
32.
Rashid, S. (2004). Evaluating a transitional living program for homeless, former foster care youth. Research on Social Work Practice , 14, 240-248.
Rice, E., Milburn, N.G., Rotheram-Borus, M.J., Mallett, S., & Rosenthal, D. (2005). The effects of peer group network properties on drug use among homeless youth. American Behavioral Scientist , 48, 1102-1123.
35.
Robertson, M.J., & Toro, P.A. (1998). Homeless youth: Research, intervention, and policy . In L. B. Fosburg & D. L. Dennis (Eds.), Practical lessons: The 1998 national symposium on homelessness research (pp. 3.1-3.32). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
36.
Rosenberg, M. (1979). Conceiving the self. New York : Basic Books.
37.
Rotheram-Borus, M.J., & Milburn, N. (2004). Project I: Pathways into homelessness. UCLA Center for Community Health. Los Angeles: University of CaliforniaLos Angeles.
38.
Russell, L.A. (1998). Child maltreatment and psychological distress among urban homeless youth. New York: Garland.
39.
Sanders, C. (2004). Employment options for low-income women: Microenterprise versus the labor market. Social Work Research, 28, 83-92.
40.
Thompson, S.J., Pollio, D.E., Constantine, J., & Von Nebbitt, D.R. (2002). Short-term outcomes for youth receiving runaway and homeless shelter services. Research on Social Work Practice, 12, 589-603.
41.
Thompson, S.J., Safyer, A.W., & Pollio, D.E. (2001). Differences and predictors of family reunification among subgroups of runaway youths using shelter services. Social Work Research, 25, 163-172.
42.
Unger, J.B., Kipke, M.D., Simon, T.R., Johnson, C.J., Montgomery, S.B., & Iverson, E. (1998). Stress, coping, and social support among homeless youth. Journal of Adolescent Research, 13, 134-157.
