Investigating Health Risk Environments in Housing Programs for Young Adults: Protocol for a Geographically Explicit Ecological Momentary Assessment Study

BACKGROUND: Young adults who experience homelessness are exposed to environments that contribute to risk behavior. However, few studies have examined how access to housing may affect the health risk behaviors of young adults experiencing homelessness. OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the Log My Life study that uses an innovative, mixed-methods approach based on geographically explicit ecological momentary assessment (EMA) through cell phone technology to understand the risk environment of young adults who have either enrolled in housing programs or are currently homeless. METHODS: For the quantitative arm, study participants age 18-27 respond to momentary surveys via a smartphone app that collects geospatial information repeatedly during a 1-week period. Both EMAs (up to 8 per day) and daily diaries are prompted to explore within-day and daily variations in emotional affect, context, and health risk behavior, while also capturing infrequent risk behaviors such as sex in exchange for goods or services. For the qualitative arm, a purposive subsample of participants who indicated engaging in risky behaviors are asked to complete an in-depth qualitative interview using an interactive, personalized geospatial map rendering of EMA responses. RESULTS: Recruitment began in June of 2017. To date, 170 participants enrolled in the study. Compliance with EMA and daily diary surveys was generally high. In-depth qualitative follow-ups have been conducted with 15 participants. We expect to recruit 50 additional participants and complete analyses by September of 2019. CONCLUSIONS: Mixing the quantitative and qualitative arms in this study will provide a more complete understanding of differences in risk environments between homeless and housed young adults. Furthermore, this approach can improve recall bias and enhance ecological validity. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/12112