Abstract

A Longitudinal Study of Persons Who Are Homeless in Ottawa:
I. Research Process and II. Preliminary Findings

Tim Aubry, Fran Klodawsky, Elizabeth Hay, Susan Farrell, Sophie Hyman, & Rebecca Nemiroff

The presentation would be made up of two one and a half hour sessions focusing on the first wave of a longitudinal study of persons who are homeless, currently being conducted in Ottawa. The first session will contextualize the study and provide information about the research process. The second session will present preliminary findings from the initial wave of the study.

In the first session Fran Klodawsky will introduce the goals of the session overall, as well as the Panel Study itself. The extant North American and European research on homelessness drawn from longitudinal or panel research will briefly be reviewed before introducing the Ottawa Study – the first Canadian study of its kind. The objectives of this Study will be outlined, and an explanation provided for the goal of 400 in-depth interviews, with 5 equal size groups of homeless persons (80 each of: adult males and females; male and female youth; adults with at least one child under 16). Susan Farrell will discuss the development of collaborative approaches to investigating the experiences of persons who are homeless in the City of Ottawa. The necessity of collaboration with multiple community-based stakeholders and the practical steps of developing and enhancing a collaborative relationship will be reviewed. The “lessons learned” from establishing a community context for research will discussed in the context of the current study, from the initiation of research ideas to the steps of dissemination and public education. Elizabeth Hay will review the process through which sampling strategies were developed, and discuss the challenges faced when conducting survey research on persons who are homeless. The chosen strategy for the Ottawa study will be discussed and the final resulting sample will be described. The first session will conclude by proposing future directions for research on homelessness in Canada, based on lessons learned to date.

In the second session, Tim Aubry will provide an overview of participants’ housing histories, based on the first wave of interviews. Using frequency and duration of homelessness as categorizing variables, types of homelessness will be explored from the standpoint of demographic and health status characteristics. Sophie Hyman will communicate results on the male and female youth subgroups of the sample, focusing on reported experiences of significant childhood stressors and their relationship with pathways into participants’ current episode of homelessness. These childhood stressors include placement outside of the family home, as well as the nature of residential services encountered as a result of external placement, such as foster homes, group homes, and other intervention-based residential services. Rebecca Nemiroff will present findings on the subgroup of single women in the panel study, focusing on the relationship between self-reported reasons for the current episode of homelessness and past housing stability. Stability will be assessed based on the number of moves and types of living situations reported in the housing history for the three years prior to the interview. Reasons for homelessness will be examined in terms of three categories: loss of ability to live independently, interpersonal reasons, and economic reasons. The second session will conclude with a discussion of implications of presented findings for developing more effective social programs and policies.

Bios

Tim Aubry is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology and Co-Director of the Centre for Research on Community Services at the University of Ottawa.

Fran Klodawsky is an Associate Professor at Carleton University cross-appointed between Geography and the Pauline Jewett Institute of Women's Studies.

Susan Farrell is a Clinical Psychologist in the Community Mental Health Unit at the Royal Ottawa Hospital and a Research Associate with the Centre for Research on Community Services at the University of Ottawa.

Elizabeth Hay is the Project Coordinator of the Panel Study on Homelessness in Ottawa.

Sophie Hyman and Rebecca Nemiroff are Ph.D. students in the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa.

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