Funded Projects

Parental Education for Those Experiencing Homelessness

Project Year

2023

City & State

Detroit, Michigan

Program Name

CATCH Resident

Topic

Health Education & Prevention

Program Description

The Problem: Health literacy, particularly with parents' health literacy in the pediatric population is a very well known problem for pediatricians. This problem is disproportionately affecting those that are experiencing homelessness, particularly when discussing the health of their children. As stated in a multitude of studies, health literacy is directly correlated to poor compliance in treatment adherence, poor health outcomes, and increased use of acute health care services. This can be directly seen by increased hospitalizations, increased length of stay, and increased rehospitalizations seen throughout the homeless community. After a brief needs assessment and multiple anecdotes from medical providers helping care for a Detroit Children’s Shelter (COTS), it has become evident that education remains at the forefront for helping these children disproportionately affected by more than just their housing status. Primary Setting: Authority Health Pediatrics already has a connection with the Coalition on Temporary Shelter (COTS) shelter as we are working with a local pediatric office to help provide Well Child Visits (WCVs) and vaccines to the children in the shelter. COTS is the largest shelter dedicated to helping those experiencing homelessness that are accompanied by children. As the largest shelter dedicated to childhood homelessness, this shelter would serve as the perfect place to help educate parents on childhood health concerns. Number of Children Affected: COTS is an amazing shelter that is proud to serve the homeless community in Detroit. COTS typically holds 40-50 families throughout the year with an estimated length of stay being 6 months. With the grant, we plan to discuss parental concerns and health issues affecting roughly 130 children that live in this facility throughout the year. Project Goal: The goal of this grant is to increase pediatric health education and understanding for parents experiencing homelessness in Detroit. Working collaboratively with non-profit organizations that assist homeless youth and provide an opportunity to increase their knowledge of health risks and improve immunization understanding in this vulnerable group. Proposed Interventions: We plan to provide medical education on a variety of topics, as decided in conjunction with the parents at COTS, at the shelter, directly after the aforementioned monthly well child visits and vaccinations. With this grant, we would be able to advertise, provide an easy to understand hand out, provide dinner to the parents at the meeting, and provide books for their children. Anticipated Outcomes: We hope with this intervention to increase the health literacy of parents when it comes to their child and instill confidence in these parents to provide the best care they can for their children disproportionately affected with a myriad of childhood diseases.

Project Goal

The goal of this project is to increase health literacy for parents experiencing homelessness by creating a resident based monthly educational series.

Project Objective 1

Perform needs assessment of parental concerns and proposals for educational topics for the year by the May with at least 50% of parental participation.

Project Objective 2

Provide a pediatric resident based monthly education series, both didactic and with an education flyer, tailored to the needs and wants within the population

Project Objective 3

Assess confidence and comprehension of the parents based on the aforementioned topics with goal of increasing confidence by 30% at each session

AAP District

District V

Institutional Name

Authority Health Pediatrics

Contact 1

Mackenzie Fountain

Contact 2

Sandeep Bhatti