1. Information and Communication Technologies Use By Homeless Individuals David A. Patterson, PhD 1, Caitlin T. Ensley, MSW 2, Lisa Higginbotham, MSW 3, Stacia M. West, MSW 4 and Roger M. Nooe, PhD 5 (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

2. Information and Communication Technologies Use By Homeless Individuals Background and Purpose Methods Results Conclusions and Implications

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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 (Goodwin- Smith & 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

6. 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 & Barman- Adhikari, 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

7. 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). Background and Purpose

8. 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? H 1 : There will be an inverse relationship between age and ICT. H 2 : Minority status, lower educational attainment, chronic health conditions, and unemployment will be inversely associated with ICT.

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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 Methods

12. Sample Table 1 Sample characteristics of study respondents (N=236 ) CovariatesHomeless sample Demographic Variables Race White73 Nonwhite Sex 26 Male65 Female Drug addiction Alcoholism Nerves Chronic health condition Employed 35 14 24 62 47 16 Age Dependent Variable Technology use (summative) 43.92 (12.223) 6.63(6.37)

13. Types of ICT Used

14. Results ItemsBt-valueS.E. (Constant) 10.928 4.9642.202 Age -.125** -3.295.038 Years of education.032.280.113 Drug addiction -1.347** -2.233.603 Male -.947 -1.018.930 White 1.137 1.354 1.003 Employed 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 R2 R2.121 n 209 Table 3: Multiple Regression predicting ICT use (N=209)

15. 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. H 2 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

16. 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.