Developing and Evaluating Oklahoma's First Elder Shelter Program for APS Clients: Comprehensive Emergency and Transitional Housing with Supportive Services - Benjamin Rose is partnering with Adult Protective Services (APS) in Oklahoma to develop, implement and evaluate the first elder shelter program for APS clients in Oklahoma. The goals of the two-year project are to: 1) Develop an effective elder shelter model for APS older and disabled adult clients who have experienced abuse, neglect and exploitation by offering clients: i) emergency shelter/transitional housing; ii) appropriate, acceptable, person-directed, culturally relevant and trauma-informed supportive services; and iii) safe permanent housing of their choice; and 2) Evaluate the effectiveness, acceptability, and sustainability of the elder shelter program, including supportive services that produce better client outcomes and reduce the recurrence of abuse, neglect and/or exploitation. Among the objectives are to: 1) Establish the agreements and contracts necessary to successfully implement this collaborative project; 2) Implement the program in Oklahoma; and 3) Measure its effectiveness; and 4) Disseminate findings locally, in Oklahoma, and nationally. Project outcomes from the needs assessment include identifying gaps in current transitional/emergency housing systems, barriers and challenges faced by clients in securing transitional/emergency housing. Project outcomes from the evaluation of the elder shelter program includes describing the lived experience of housing insecure clients, their needs and services, satisfaction with services, and types of abuse, neglect and/or exploitation they experienced. The expected products include assessments to track client needs and outcomes, an enhanced training manual for APS staff on the elder shelter program, a transitional housing resource guide for APS staff and community partners, a final report, presentations at conferences, a webinar, a peer-reviewed journal article, and a clean copy of the final data for ACL.
