Frontline Support
The project, officially titled ‘Primary health care for homeless men: An exploration of the service use and health needs of homeless men in inner Sydney’, has been awarded a $10,000 Health Futures Development Grant by UTS’s Faculty of Health.The research project has already looked back over the last five years of data collected by the clinic, run a voluntary survey amongst homeless men and attempted to spot salient patterns in service use. “We asked the men to help with providing information about why they went there, what the outcomes were for them and what they perceived had happened to their health over time,” explains Dr Roche.
“This qualitative information really gives colour and depth to what we’ve found in the clinic’s data, and I hope that will give the clinic a much stronger idea of what the men perceive to be the most effective parts of their service.”Roche’s background as a mental health nurse gives him an in-depth understanding of the complexities involved in measuring barriers to services and health outcomes in such a diverse population. He explains: “The barriers to accessing a health service are pretty well established, but there’s also the welcoming aspect which is really important as a facilitator. We’re finding it’s not so much about what stops you going to another service, but what makes you want to come to this one.”
