The dynamics of providing street medicine to a geographically diverse homeless population in Hawaii

ABSTRACT

Purpose

Since Hawaii has the highest rate of per capita of persons experiencing homelessness (PEH) in the United States, the purpose of this qualitative evaluation study was to evaluate the experiences of both the providers and clients of a Street Medicine (SM) program serving one side of the island of O’ahu.

Method

This evaluation used Story Inquiry to qualitatively assess one SM program serving one side of the island of O’ahu in Hawa’i. Since the culture in Hawaii is largely based upon stories, a qualitative approach was taken to better understand the lived experiences of PEH who utilized the SM services, as well as provider perspectives.

Results

The findings of this evaluation include strengths of increased primary care engagement and improved quality of life for PEH; barriers to success included transportation scarcity and limitations of services available.

Conclusions

The findings lend implications for new SM programs, including gathering community support, having culturally aware outreach and that mobility and flexibility can overcome health-care barriers for PEH.

KEYWORDS:

• Street medicine
• homelessness
• access to healthcare
• qualitative research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data used for this study are not publicly available.

Additional information

Funding

This evaluation was funded by the Castle Foundation