A Pragmatic Trial Integrating Homelessness Diversion Services Into an Emergency Department Discharge System

Not Applicable

• Conditions: Homelessness
• Interventions: Behavioral: Homeless diversion (HD); Behavioral: Treatment-as-usual (TAU)

• Registration Number: NCT05823220
• Lead Sponsor: The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a homelessness diversion program integrated into a hospital emergency department (ED) will lower ED use, to identify characteristics of individuals most likely to benefit from homelessness diversion and to discover opportunities to tailor Homelessness Diversion (HD) services to better meet the needs of diverse communities.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2023-04-08
• Study First Submitted QC: 2023-04-08
• Study First Posted: 2023-04-21
• Study Start: 2023-09-14
• Status Verified: 2025-01
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-01-24
• Last Update Posted: 2025-01-28
• Primary Completion: 2025-09-01
• Study Completion: 2025-09-01

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 1000

Inclusion Criteria

• English or Spanish speaking
• discharged from a Harris Health Hospital ED (Ben Taub or LBJ)
• at imminent risk of homelessness
• patients with Medicaid, Medicare or who are uninsured

Exclusion Criteria

• having a conservator (legal guardian)
• plans to move away from Texas in 6 months

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Homeless diversion (HD) group	Homeless diversion (HD)	-
Treatment-as-usual (TAU) group	Treatment-as-usual (TAU)	-

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Number of ED visits	end of study (6 months after start of study)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change in health related quality of life as assessed by the Short Form-12 version 2.0 (SF12v2) health Survey	baseline, month 1, month 2, month 3, month 4, month 5 and month 6	This is a 12 item questionnaire and scores range from 0 to 100, where a zero score indicates the lowest level of health and 100 indicates the highest level of health.
Number of participants who experience homelessness	end of study (6 months after start of study)

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston; 🇺🇸 Houston, Texas, United States