# mHealth to Increase Service Utilization Among Recently Incarcerated Homeless Adults

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA HLTH SCIENCES CTR · 2021 · $556,333

## Abstract

7. Project Summary/Abstract
There is a significant revolving door of incarceration among homeless adults, a population with substantial
health disparities. Homeless adults who receive the professional coordination of individualized care (i.e., case
management) during the period following their release from jail experience fewer mental health and substance
use problems, are more likely to obtain stable housing, and are less likely to be re-incarcerated. This is
because case managers work to meet the various needs of their clients by helping them to overcome barriers
to needed services (e.g., food, clothing, housing, job training, substance abuse and mental health treatment,
medical care, medication, social support, proof of identification, legal aid). Many barriers (e.g., limited
transportation, inability to schedule appointments, limited knowledge of available services) prevent homeless
adults who were recently released from incarceration from obtaining available case management, crisis
management, substance abuse, and mental health services. The proposed study will use mobile technology to
address these barriers and fill gaps in the understanding of the causes of the revolving door of homeless
incarceration. Specifically, 432 homeless adults who enroll in a shelter based Homeless Recovery Program
after release from county jail will be randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: 1) usual shelter
based case management (UCM), 2) UCM plus a study provided smart phone (UCM+SP), and 3) UCM with a
study provided smart phone that is preloaded with an innovative care management app (SPCM). The SPCM
app is an extension of the research team's previous successful work using mobile devices to assess and
modify health behaviors in low income and homeless adults. Those assigned to SPCM will receive smart
phones that will prompt (twice weekly) connections to shelter based case managers. The app will also offer
direct links to care managers (available during normal business hours) and crisis interventionists (available 24
hours a day, 7 days a week), with the touch of a button. It is hypothesized that SPCM will increase utilization of
case and crisis management services thereby addressing unmet needs (e.g., alcohol/drug/mental health
counseling), improve perceived social support and quality of life, and reduce homelessness and re-arrest.
Another key focus of this study is to address gaps in the understanding of mechanisms that drive re-arrest and
homelessness by using traditional in-person (i.e., baseline, 1, 3, and 6 months post-baseline) and smart phone
based (i.e., daily for 6 months) assessment methods to identify distal and proximal predictors (e.g., affect,
thoughts, behaviors, events) of continued homelessness and arrest. This research represents a step toward
integrated service connection and healthcare service provision for one of the most underserved, high need,
and understudied populations in the United States. Smart phone apps that increase t...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10186559
- **Project number:** 5R01MD010733-06
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA HLTH SCIENCES CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** Michael S. Businelle
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $556,333
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-26 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10186559

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10186559, mHealth to Increase Service Utilization Among Recently Incarcerated Homeless Adults (5R01MD010733-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10186559. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*