Grant: Fellowship - PA: Health Services/Population Health HIV/AIDS Research

Youth homelessness is a growing problem in Canada. Experiences of youth on the street can include poor nutrition, victimization, low social supports, substance use and abuse, limited access to healthcare and other services. These experiences place street-involved youth at higher risk for infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C (HCV), through unsafe sex practices and risky substance use behaviours such as injection drug use. Resources in social network relationships (i.e., social capital) can have an important impact on the health of homeless populations. It is necessary that we study the impact of social factors on the health behaviours of street-involved youth in order to understand how we can improve public health responses that will lower risk and better encourage preventive practices among this vulnerable population. Research that examines the relationship between social capital (i.e., resources embedded in social network relationships such as trust, social support, and group norms) and health outcomes has typically found that the presence of social capital has a protective effect on health. However, there is a lack of research on how to develop programs that build social capital for the purposes of promoting better health. Research has also yet to explore the influence of social capital on health among street-involved youth. This study will engage various types of expertise by involving researchers, street-involved youth and service providers in the research and as members of a study advisory group, to study the influence of social capital on HIV and HCV-related health behaviours, such as unsafe sex and sharing of drug use equipment (including needles, other injection equipment, and crack pipes) among street-involved youth in Toronto. The study will also include the planning of an intervention that will build social capital in the social networks of youth, with which to promote preventive behaviours and engage youth in services.