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Special Section on Social Integration
Published Online: 1 May 2012

Does Housing Chronically Homeless Adults Lead to Social Integration?

Abstract

Objective:

Supported housing programs have been successful in helping homeless adults obtain housing. This study examined whether improvements in social integration occur after clients obtain supported housing.

Methods:

Measures of social integration were examined for 550 chronically homeless adults with mental illness who participated in the 11-site Collaborative Initiative to Help End Chronic Homelessness. Social integration was conceptualized as a multidimensional construct of variables in six domains: housing, work, social support, community participation, civic activity, and religious faith. Changes in baseline measures related to the six domains and their interrelationships were examined at six and 12 months after entry into the supported housing program.

Results:

Chronically homeless adults showed substantial improvements in housing but remained socially isolated and showed limited improvement in other domains of social integration, which were only weakly correlated with one another.

Conclusions:

More attention is needed to develop rehabilitation interventions in supported housing programs to improve social integration of chronically homeless adults. Because improvements in some domains of social integration were only weakly related, it may be necessary to intervene in multiple domains simultaneously. (Psychiatric Services 63:427–434, 2012; doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201100047)

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Table 1 Characteristics of chronically homeless adults included in the study or excluded because of missing data
Table 2 Clinical status of 550 chronically homeless adults at baseline and six- and 12-month follow-ups
Table 3 Measures of social integration among 550 chronically homeless adults at baseline and six- and 12-month follow-ups
Table 4 Partial correlations between measures of housing, work, social support, community participation, and civic participation among 550 chronically homeless adults

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Psychiatric Services
Go to Psychiatric Services
Psychiatric Services
Pages: 427 - 434
PubMed: 22549528

History

Published online: 1 May 2012
Published in print: May 2012

Authors

Details

Jack Tsai, Ph.D. [email protected]
Dr. Tsai and Dr. Rosenheck are affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System, 950 Campbell Ave., 151D, West Haven, CT 06516 (e-mail: [email protected]). They are also with the Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
Alvin S. Mares, Ph.D.
Dr. Mares is with the College of Social Work, Ohio State University, Columbus. This article is part of a special section on social integration of persons with mental illness, for which Dr. Rosenheck served as guest editor.
Robert A. Rosenheck, M.D. [email protected]
Dr. Tsai and Dr. Rosenheck are affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System, 950 Campbell Ave., 151D, West Haven, CT 06516 (e-mail: [email protected]). They are also with the Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.

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