CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
Submission Deadline: December 2, 2022
The 2023 National Health Care for the Homeless Council (NHCHC) annual Conference will be hosted May 15-18, 2023, at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront. NHCHC is pleased to announce the continuation of the 2022 theme “Toward Health and Belonging,” with this year’s theme “Toward Justice.”
Growing inequities and criminalization of homelessness are worsening in our society and threaten the lives of people experiencing homelessness. In 2023, we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the National Consumer Advisory Board and the people with lived expertise of homelessness who have been leaders in the movement to end homelessness. In this conference, we want to highlight the amazing work of these leaders and discuss the successes and challenges of creating Consumer Advisory Boards, hiring people with lived expertise, and program development by and for impacted communities. We know that people closest to the problems are those closest to the solutions.
Justice is core to the mission of the Council as we work to build an equitable and high-quality health care system. Health care is neither equitable nor high-quality if it is not accessible and person-centered. At HCH2023, we want to explore and demonstrate how providing health care to people without homes, addressing the effects of homelessness, and working to prevent and to end homelessness is a matter of justice.
The Call for Abstracts is open to NHCHC members and non-members. We are excited to showcase many of these promising practices, models, and examples of leadership that can be replicated. If you have a compelling presentation to share with peers from around the nation, we welcome you to submit an abstract.
Please carefully review Conference Track opportunities, session formats and the abstract review process before submitting your abstract. Abstracts are typically about 250 - 300 words.
CONFERENCE TRACKS
Please submit your abstract in only one session format and track.
Clinical Care
An abstract submitted in the Clinical Care track should enhance the knowledge and skills of providers on the front lines in order to improve the health and quality of life of people experiencing homelessness. We encourage submissions by and for clinicians of any discipline. Sessions may reflect a discipline-specific focus for a topic deep dive or an interdisciplinary approach to confront the complex problems associated with homelessness.
Policy and Advocacy
The Policy & Advocacy track is intended to highlight the efforts of the HCH community to create better public policy and achieve solutions to poverty and homelessness. This track is distinct from the Program Operations and Innovation track in that it focuses on policy advocacy activities and partnerships external to direct-service organizations.
Program Operations and Innovation
The goal for sessions in this track is to enhance the knowledge and skills of decision-makers, supervisors, and administrators at health centers and other direct-service organizations. An abstract should feature promising practices in tailoring programs to meet the needs of people without homes within broader efforts to end homelessness. As opposed to the Direct Care track that pertains to skills in client interactions (i.e., “inside the exam room”), this track focuses on the decisions and structures supporting direct service (“in the conference room”).
Evidence and Evaluation
The purpose of the Evidence and Evaluation Track is to provide a venue for health services researchers, clinicians, quality improvement officers, or others in the community that serves unstably housed populations to: (1) Demonstrate research or quality improvement projects that are innovative, (2) Highlight emerging, promising, or evidence-based practices that impact overall population health, or policy efforts to improve the quality of care for individuals experiencing homelessness, and (3) Describe research that facilitates quality improvement initiatives at Health Care for the Homeless health centers to advance knowledge, support data, metrics, and improve the lives of patients served. We are especially interested in projects that are led by, or informed by, patient and clinical stakeholders, and conducted in a clinic setting or settings where people experiencing homelessness live.
Medical Respite Care
The Medical Respite Care track is intended to highlight promising practies in the development, delivery, and evaluation of medical respite care services. An abstract should feature innovations in how communities and providers build their programs, support their staff, deliver clinical care, strengthen partnerships, evaluate impact, and/or create pathways for sustainable funding. As Medical Respite Care is cross-cutting, any abstract that fits in the Clinical Care, Policy & Advocacy, Program Operations & Innovation, and Evidence & Evaluation tracks would be appropriate for this track, as long as it is through the lens of Medical Respite Care.
EDUCATIONAL FORMATS
30-Minute Oral Presentations
An oral presentation is a 30-minute session that describes a research project, program, promising practice, innovative tool or approach to a topic. Presenters submitting proposals for this type of session may include slide presentations, brief videos, group exercises, and/or focused discussions on a particular topic.
Presenter Maximum: One
See “Financial Support Policy” for discount information.
75-Minute Workshops
A 75-minute workshop provides an in-depth exploration of a program innovation, emerging issue, clinical challenge, finding(s) from a research project, policy change(s), or a quality improvement initiative. Presentations may include slide presentations, group exercises, facilitated discussion, and clinical case studies. Creative formats outside of traditional lecture/Q&A patterns are welcomed.
Presenter Maximum: Three
See “Financial Support Policy” for discount information.
Poster Presentations
Posters offer a succinct view of programs and practices, policy issues, or research analysis. Posters will be presented during the Welcome Reception during an official poster and networking reception. Presenters should be with the poster during this scheduled viewing and posters will remain available for viewing throughout the conference during breaks. Specific guidelines for printing the poster will be provided upon acceptance.
Presenter Maximum: One
See “Financial Support Policy” for discount information.
SUBMISSIONS OF ABSTRACTS
Commercial Content
The educational content of this event is eligible for Continuing Medical Education Level 1 credits (ACCME), Continuing Nursing Credits (ANCC), California Board of Nursing Credits (CABN), Social Worker Continuing Education Credits (ASWB and NYSW - applicable with the exception of New Jersey) through Amedco.
No demonstration or endorsement of commercial products is permissible in educational sessions.
ABSTRACT REVIEW PROCESS
Abstracts will be reviewed blindly and scored by volunteers according to criteria established for each track. Review criteria are listed below:
1. “Justice”: The abstract should be reflective of “Justice” as described in the conference theme. Abstracts that are prepared with the involvement of consumers and where consumers are co-presenters will be weighted more positively in the review process.
2. Relevance: The abstract should address significant, current issues related to health and social justice.
3. Evidence: For clarity, the abstract should clearly indicate whether practices to be discussed are evidence-based, promising, or innovative.
4. Replicability: The abstract should describe practices and approaches that can be replicated in other HCH health centers, medical respite programs, supportive housing, or homeless service provider settings.
5. Policy Impact: The abstract should identify and address a topic’s implications for public policy and agency policies.
6. Inclusion: The abstract should identify components or processes that explain how participants with lived experience were involved in the development, design, or presentation of this submission.
7. Clarity: Overall, an abstract should be well structured, coherent, and easy to understand.
8. Format: The abstract should reflect the expectations of the submitted session format (workshop, oral presentation, poster).
The review process is blinded; presenter information, affiliations, and identifying information will not be shared with reviewers. Please refrain from including identifying information in the Abstract Summary and Description. Please use 3rd person w/out identifying information: e.g. "the organization", or "the clinic").
The Council reserves the right to recommend changes in the track or focus/content of a proposed educational session or may combine similar abstracts into one session. Submitters will be asked to indicate their willingness to combine abstracts upon submission. If abstracts are combined, submitters will be notified.
The Council maintains a no-duplication policy with regards to submissions. If a duplicated submission is found in more than one session format or more than one track, the Council reserves the right to withdraw both submissions from review.
You do not need to be a Council member to submit an abstract. However, if your abstract is accepted for presentation, the presenters MUST register for the annual meeting by registration deadline. Submission of an abstract implies a commitment to make the presentation at the annual meeting.
Important dates:
Open for abstract submission: Friday, October 14th
Submission deadline: Friday, December 2nd
Notification to accepted abstracts: January 2023
Registration deadline: Friday, March 31st
General Criteria for the Submission of Abstracts
Consumer Participation
The Council recognizes and supports the critical role people with lived expertise of homelessness play in defining, measuring, and working together for health and belonging. We strongly encourage abstracts that meaningfully include consumers in the development of educational content and/or the delivery of the presentation. Council staff and members are available to assist consumers in developing proposals. For more information, please contact Community Engagement Director, Cindy Manginelli.
The Council encourages agencies to support the travel costs of consumer presenters whose workshops are accepted. Consumer presenters are prioritized for a limited number of consumer subsidies, which cover registration, meals, lodging, and limited travel assistance. These subsidies will open in February 2023. For more information contact Consumer Engagement Coordinator, Kayla Ritchie.
Representation
The Council is committed to increasing representation of oppressed communities in our conference. Especially because racism, homophobia, and transphobia (among other oppressive systems) are principal drivers of homelessness, and people of color and LGBTQIA+ people are drastically overrepresented, it is paramount that our conference reflect the people we serve. As such, the proposal submission process requests demographic information for all speakers/panelists. We especially invite submissions from people who identify with marginalized groups. Learn more about why we ask these questions.
Financial Support Policy
If your proposal is accepted, only Main Conference registration codes will be provided:
Workshops : $150 Main Conference discount for up to THREE presenters
Oral Presentations / Poster : $150 Main Conference discount for ONE presenter
Contact
For inquiries please contact:
Brett Poe
Subject: Abstract Submission
bpoe@nhchc.org