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The Supporting Health Equity through Holistic Empowerment, Art and Lived Experience Study
Women experiencing homelessness have shorter life expectancies, poorer physical and mental health, and worse access to healthcare than the general population. Additionally, many women experiencing homelessness are survivors of sexual violence and abuse.
More research is needed to provide trauma-informed support for this under-served group. However, research often fails to create safe environments for these individuals to authentically share their experiences, and this can lead to harm and re-traumatisation.
The , the Institute of Global Health Innovation, and collaborated to explore how to more safely and meaningfully involve women experiencing homelessness in research.
To do this, we drew on practices used by frontline homelessness services and worked closely with a group of women experiencing homelessness to develop a psychologically informed environment (PIE) for research.
We tested our PIE within the SHE HEALS study, which used arts-based methods to explore what holistic, trauma-informed healthcare looks like for women at risk of or experiencing homelessness.
The SHE HEALS Gallery is a powerful collection of photographs and artworks created by women experiencing homelessness to explore their past experiences and future hopes for healthcare. The collection offers insightful perspectives on building trust within public services and calls for greater respect, safety, and choice within healthcare.
The Guide to PIE Research contains practical advice from women experiencing homelessness for researchers looking to conduct psychologically informed research with marginalised groups. It features real-world examples from the SHE HEALS study.
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This project is funded by the NIHR Programme Development Grants (PDG) Developing Innovative, Inclusive, and Diverse Public Partnerships Scheme (NIHR207101).
The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.
For any questions about this project, please contact Jodie Chan at j.chan@imperial.ac.uk