IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v309y2022ics027795362200538x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring the conceptualization, operationalization, implementation, and measurement of outreach in community settings with hard-to-reach and hidden populations: A scoping review

Author

Listed:
  • Jiao, Sunny
  • Slemon, Allie
  • Guta, Adrian
  • Bungay, Vicky

Abstract

Outreach is as a strategy employed by those in health and social services, which generally involves establishing relationships and providing support to people situated in hard-to-reach and hidden populations. However, there is a lack of clarity across the literature on how outreach is conceptualized, the central elements of outreach as a program and practice, and how the ‘success’ of outreach is empirically measured. Such gaps limit understandings of how outreach can be most effectively implemented and evaluated. The purpose of this scoping review responds to these challenges by systematically examining how outreach has been conceptualized, operationalized, and evaluated in community settings with hard-to-reach and hidden populations. This scoping review approach was undertaken in accordance with the 6-step framework developed by Arksey and O'Malley and advanced by Levac and colleagues. The search was conducted across four databases (CINAHL, MEDLINE, PubMed, and PsycINFO) and included research, review, and non-empirical articles published in English between January 1, 2008 and April 20, 2020.16,238 records were screened by title and abstract, followed by a review of 654 full-text articles and critical appraisal of 67 articles. Forty-two articles were included in the review, including 28 research articles (90%), two review, and two non-empirical. Findings illustrate that there is considerable variation in how outreach is conceptualized, implemented, and evaluated across the literature. Further, outreach is often inadequately defined, and predominantly overlooks the underlying and systemic reasons for clients' “disengagement” from health and social care. Outreach providers and researchers are encouraged to draw on client-led aims, goals, and outcome measures to determine the enactment, evaluation, and measurement of outreach, and to explicitly position outreach as working alongside clients to remove structural barriers to care.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiao, Sunny & Slemon, Allie & Guta, Adrian & Bungay, Vicky, 2022. "Exploring the conceptualization, operationalization, implementation, and measurement of outreach in community settings with hard-to-reach and hidden populations: A scoping review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:309:y:2022:i:c:s027795362200538x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115232
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795362200538X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115232?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lazarus, L. & Chettiar, J. & Deering, K. & Nabess, R. & Shannon, K., 2011. "Risky health environments: Women sex workers’ struggles to find safe, secure and non-exploitative housing in Canada’s poorest postal code," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(11), pages 1600-1607.
    2. Strike, Carol J. & O'Grady, Caroline & Myers, Ted & Millson, Margaret, 2004. "Pushing the boundaries of outreach work: the case of needle exchange outreach programs in Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 209-219, July.
    3. Slesnick, Natasha & Zhang, Jing & Brakenhoff, Brittany, 2017. "Personal control and service connection as paths to improved mental health and exiting homelessness among severely marginalized homeless youth," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 121-127.
    4. Saldanha, Kennedy & Parenteau, Derek, 2013. "“Well, if you can't smile you should go home!” Experiences and reflective insights on providing outreach to young sex trade workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 1276-1283.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Esther Van Poel & Claire Collins & Peter Groenewegen & Peter Spreeuwenberg & Gazmend Bojaj & Jonila Gabrani & Christian Mallen & Liubove Murauskiene & Milena Šantrić Milićević & Emmily Schaubroeck & S, 2023. "The Organization of Outreach Work for Vulnerable Patients in General Practice during COVID-19: Results from the Cross-Sectional PRICOV-19 Study in 38 Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-16, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fleming, Taylor & Collins, Alexandra B. & Boyd, Jade & Knight, Kelly R. & McNeil, Ryan, 2023. "“It's no foundation, there's no stabilization, you're just scattered”: A qualitative study of the institutional circuit of recently-evicted people who use drugs," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    2. Stephen Gaetz, 2020. "Making the Prevention of Homelessness a Priority: The Role of Social Innovation," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 79(2), pages 353-381, March.
    3. Jennifer Cumming & Fiona J. Clarke & Mark J. G. Holland & Benjamin J. Parry & Mary L. Quinton & Sam J. Cooley, 2022. "A Feasibility Study of the My Strengths Training for Life™ (MST4Life™) Program for Young People Experiencing Homelessness," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-17, March.
    4. Parry, Benjamin J. & Quinton, Mary L. & Holland, Mark J.G. & Thompson, Janice L. & Cumming, Jennifer, 2021. "Improving outcomes in young people experiencing homelessness with My Strengths Training for Life™ (MST4Life™): A qualitative realist evaluation," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    5. Lee, Christopher Thomas & Guzman, David & Ponath, Claudia & Tieu, Lina & Riley, Elise & Kushel, Margot, 2016. "Residential patterns in older homeless adults: Results of a cluster analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 131-140.
    6. Morton, Matthew H. & Kugley, Shannon & Epstein, Richard & Farrell, Anne, 2020. "Interventions for youth homelessness: A systematic review of effectiveness studies," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    7. Elena Argento & Katherine A Muldoon & Putu Duff & Annick Simo & Kathleen N Deering & Kate Shannon, 2014. "High Prevalence and Partner Correlates of Physical and Sexual Violence by Intimate Partners among Street and Off-Street Sex Workers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(7), pages 1-7, July.
    8. Dhand, Amar, 2006. "The roles performed by peer educators during outreach among heroin addicts in India: Ethnographic insights," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(10), pages 2674-2685, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:309:y:2022:i:c:s027795362200538x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.