Home / News / Cell Phone Use among Homeless Youth: Potential for New Health Interventions and Research (2011)

08/03/2015

Cell Phone Use among Homeless Youth: Potential for New Health Interventions and Research (2011)

Cell Phone Use among Homeless Youth: Potential for New Health Interventions and Research

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3232411/

E Rice , A Lee and S Taitt

Search Terms: homeless youth, cell phone usage, intervention, Los Angeles, social support

Summary: Cell phone use has become nearly ubiquitous among adolescents in the United States. Despite the potential for cell phones to facilitate intervention, research, and care for homeless youth, no data exists to date on cell phone use among this population. In 2009, a survey of cell phone use was conducted among a non-probability sample of 169 homeless youth in Los Angeles, CA. Cell phones present new opportunities for intervention research, connecting homeless youth to family and home-based peers who can be sources of social support in times of need. Moreover, cell phones provide researchers and providers with new avenues to maintain connections with these highly transient youth.