EXPLORING EFFECTIVE SYSTEMS RESPONSES TO HOMELESSNESS

SYSTEMS PLANNING FOR TARGETED GROUPS
RESEARCH APPROACH
The primary research goal was to explore service coordination as conducted by
HARP. Through a collaborative process between the investigator and the HARP
team, the following research question was established: What aspects of service
coordination serve the unique and complex needs of homeless pregnant women
most effectively from the perspective of service providers?
METHODS
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 individuals who were part of
the service community for homeless pregnant women. The service community was
defined as professionals who work with homeless pregnant women in the City of
Toronto either in direct service provision or in agency leadership roles.
Participants were divided into internal and external groups. Seven internal participants
represented public health nurses, registered dietitians and supervisors from HARP. Twenty
external participants represented registered nurses, social workers, counsellors, outreach
workers, parenting specialists, case managers, supervisors and coordinators working
outside of HARP. The service sectors represented in the external participant sample
included: shelter and housing, pre- and post-natal health, addictions, parenting, child
protection, physical health and networking.
External participants were recruited initially through convenience sampling and
recruitment continued in a snowball manner. Data were analyzed using an inductive
analysis approach, as outlined by Thomas (2006), which facilitated establishing links
between the research goals and findings and the development of a conceptual model.
FINDINGS
Two overarching themes emerged from this research that are described below:
pregnancy creates a window of opportunity for change, but also a time pressure;
and relationships are the key to successful service coordination. Ten activities that
facilitate effective service coordination are then presented, followed by a discussion
of how the findings demonstrate the value of a service coordination program for
homeless pregnant women and the implications for research, policy and practice.
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