Miracle Messages Evaluation

University of Southern California

Status: Active, not recruiting

Conditions: Homelessness

Treatments: Other: Social Support; Other: Basic income

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05408884

UP-22-00242

Details and patient eligibility

About

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.

Full 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.

Enrollment: 759 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

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.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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759 participants in 3 patient groups

Miracle Friends

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants selected to receive a social support "phone buddy" program.

Treatment:

Other: Social Support

waitlist

No Intervention group

Description:

Waitlisted for the social support "phone buddy" program.

Miracle Money

Experimental group

Description:

Participants who receive $750 monthly income for 12 months based on having engaged in the Miracle Friends program

Treatment:

Other: Basic income

Other: Social Support