Young homeless women encountered physical and individual barriers in obtaining health care.

Methods Each woman had a semistructured interview with 1 of 2 research nurses about sources of advice, health seeking behaviours, and access to care issues. Each interview concluded with the nurse addressing the health concerns of the woman. Interviews were tape recorded and preliminarily analysed. 6 women were recruited from the larger group to participate in 3 focus groups to explore themes and topics identified during the interviews in more depth. Focus groups were also tape recorded. Women received US $5 for participating in the semistructured interviews and $10 for the focus groups.