Clinical trial NCT05408884: Miracle Messages Evaluation
Official title: Miracle Friends and Miracle Money Evaluation
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Homelessness
Lead sponsor: University of Southern California
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Miracle Messages
First posted: 2022-06-07
Enrollment: 759
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: The project will conduct a randomized control trial (RCT) of an innovative program for people experiencing homelessness (PEH) that initially designed to address social isolation and loneliness among people experiencing homelessness but subsequently paired with an economic poverty-reduction intervention. The social support intervention, known as "Miracle Friends," pairs an unhoused person with a volunteer "phone buddy." The poverty reduction intervention, known as "Miracle Money," provides guaranteed basic income of $750 per month for 1 year to Miracle Friends participants.

Detailed description: The project will conduct a randomized control trial (RCT) of an innovative program for people experiencing homelessness (PEH) that initially designed to address social isolation and loneliness among people experiencing homelessness but subsequently paired with an economic poverty-reduction intervention. The social support intervention, known as "Miracle Friends (MF)," pairs an unhoused person with a volunteer "phone buddy." The poverty reduction intervention, known as "Miracle Money (M$)," provides guaranteed basic income of $750 per month for 1 year to MF participants. The RCT will have 3 arms of PEH who expressed interest in the phone buddy program: (1) those assigned to Miracle Friends; (2) those assigned to Miracle Money, which is not disclosed until after they actively engage in the Miracle Friends program; (3) And those assigned to a waitlist for Miracle Friends. To recruit for the study, the Miracle Friends program engage PEH through a variety of homeless services partners and introduce the MF program. Anyone who is interested in the MF program is provided information about a 15-month longitudinal study and referred to the research team to complete an eligibility screener. The research team explains the interview protocols that include receiving a $30 incentive each time a survey is completed that includes a baseline and 5 quarterly surveys. Participants will also be notified about being randomly selected to either be offered MF or put on a waitlist. Those assigned to the M$ are not notified about receiving monthly income until after they engage in the MF program. Information about frequency of contact with the MF social support volunteer and volunteer demographics will be provided directly from the Miracle Friends administrative data records.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* being 18 years old or older;
* speaks English;
* currently experiencing homelessness;
* has expressed interest in signing up for the Miracle Friends ("phone buddy") program.

Exclusion Criteria:

* not meeting the inclusion criteria;
* not able to provide informed consent.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Homelessness/Housing status using questions from the Los Angeles Homeless Count
timeFrame: Measured quarterly for 15 months.
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Employment status using questions from the Los Angeles Homeless Count
timeFrame: Measured quarterly for 15 months.
measure: Health status using Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement InformationSystem (PROMIS) Scale 1.2
timeFrame: Measured quarterly for 15 months.
measure: University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Short Version
timeFrame: Measured quarterly for 15 months.
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Los Angeles
country: United States
facility: Miracle Messages
state: California
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Southern California
name: Ben Henwood, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: