Abstract
Drop-in centers for homeless youth address basic needs for food, hygiene, and clothing
but can also provide critical services that address youth's “higher level” needs (e.g.,
substance use treatment, mental health care, HIV-related programs). Unlike other services
that have restrictive rules, drop-in centers typically try to break down barriers
and take a “come as you are” approach to engaging youth in services. Given their popularity,
drop-in centers represent a promising location to deliver higher level services to
youth that may not seek services elsewhere. A better understanding of the individual-level
factors (e.g., characteristics of homeless youth) and agency-level factors (e.g.,
characteristics of staff and environment) that facilitate and impede youth engagement
in drop-in centers will help inform research and outreach efforts designed to engage
these at-risk youth in services. Thus, the goal of this review was to develop a preliminary
conceptual model of drop-in center use by homeless youth. Toward this goal, we reviewed
20 available peer-reviewed articles and reports on the facilitators and barriers of
drop-in center usage and consulted broader models of service utilization from both
youth and adult studies to inform model development.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 27, 2016
Accepted:
March 25,
2016
Received:
October 26,
2015
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
