Homelessness: Understanding unmet needs and identifying resources.

BACKGROUND: Graduate occupational therapy students collaborated with an Area Health Education Center (AHEC) to address occupational therapy's role in intervening for individuals who are homeless. OBJECTIVE: The purpose was to provide educational resources on specific needs related to health and wellbeing to individuals who are homeless. METHODS: A variety of methods were used to gather information on common needs of the homeless population related to health and wellbeing, community integration, and development of routines. Initial data was collected through the use of a needs assessment for nine participants with thirteen questions followed with a weekly visit to a homeless shelter. The weekly visits allowed the students to build rapport and trust with the residents to gain an understanding of individual perspectives and barriers to occupation. RESULTS: The students worked with residents how to best access community based resources and services related to occupational needs. Specific needs were identified, and further resources were provided to support community integration, independent living, and self-management. CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary findings provided a basic understanding of the foundational needs of individuals to be used to support future research linking occupational therapy to the homeless population to achieve individual goals, improve health and wellbeing, and enhance life skills management.

Breast, Cervical, and Colorectal Cancer Education and Navigation: Results of a Community Health Worker Intervention.

Now that cancer has surpassed heart disease as the top cause of death for Hispanics in the United States, it is even more critical to focus on early detection of cancer in this population. We report the results of a theory-driven education-plus-navigation pilot intervention delivered by bilingual, bicultural community health workers (CHWs) with the goal of increasing cancer screening rates and knowledge among low-income Latinas. CHWs enrolled 691 eligible women, ages 18 to 75 years, considered rarely or never screened for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer. Eligible women were scheduled for an education session and offered health care navigation support with appointment scheduling and reminder/follow-up calls. CHWs provided education to 535 (77%) eligible women, and arranged mammograms, Pap tests, or stool blood tests for 174 (25%) participants, with another 94 (14%) placed on a waiting list at a local health center. Statistically significant positive changes on knowledge of screening guidelines for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer, and beliefs/attitudes regarding early detection were observed from pre- to posttest among eligible women who attended an educational session. Results highlight the effectiveness of CHW-directed interventions in recruiting individuals for programs, educating them, and influencing cancer knowledge and screening behavior.