Evolve: Evaluating a dental service for the homeless
Research type
Research Study
Full title
EValuation Of a dental care service in Leeds for Vulnerable people Experiencing homelessness (EVOLVE: Pilot Study)
IRAS ID
341255
Contact name
Julia Csikar
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Leeds
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
People experiencing homelessness (PEH) die earlier than the general population, have poorer health/oral health, and higher social exclusion. There are structural barriers to accessing routine dental care for PEH. To overcome these, it has been recommended that services are designed and delivered specifically for PEH.
In 2022 an NHS dental service for PEH was established in Leeds at 2 practices (High Ash Dental Surgery/Hunslet Dental Surgery). The charity workers (The Crypt, Bevan Healthcare and Street Angels) arrange appointments for PEH, help PEH to register for care and arrange transport to attend. This study will evaluate the utilisation and perceptions of stakeholders of these Dental Services.
This research will gather data from focus groups/individual interviews, with PEH, homeless charities and dental teams. PEH will be approached by the charity they are attending and asked to take part in the research. Charities and dental teams will be approached by the researchers to participate. Focus groups/interviews will be led by 2 researchers, video/audio recorded for analysis. Focus groups/interviews will take place in person on online depending on participants preference. Sessions will be audio recorded and on University of Leeds Microsoft Teams using auto-transcription, only the audio will be retained. Focus groups/interviews will take place either at the dental practice (in a private room) or at the charity service (in a private room). Each group will be interviewed (focus group) within their stakeholder group (without other stakeholders present) to allow them to speak freely about their experiences. PEH who refused a dental appointment (The Crypt only) will be asked to undertake a short self-complete questionnaire (anonymous) to ask why (paper version), it will be stored securely at The Crypt and collected weekly by the research team. The data will be entered into a database and the paper copy shredded.REC name
Wales REC 4
REC reference
24/WA/0355
Date of REC Opinion
17 Jan 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion