Suchergebnisse

Addressing homelessness among veterans has been a top policy priority for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) since 2009. Part of the multitiered strategy to prevent and end homelessness among veterans was the implementation of a universal screen for housing instability among all veteran outpatients at VA facilities. Data from more than six million veterans responding to this screen have provided insight into veterans' housing instability, as well as the characteristics of individuals and structural forces that may influence housing insecurity among veterans; the current article synthesizes these findings. Although the universal screen for housing instability has been effective at linking veterans with needed resources, questions remain regarding the best ways to ensure that they remain in safe, affordable, adequate, and permanent housing.

During recent years, the need to consider effective and innovative ways to prevent and end homelessness among individuals with serious mental illness has been abetted by an increased and more sophisticated understanding of the composition of the homeless population, the emergence of evidence‐based practices to address homelessness, and the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This article summarizes the evolving understanding of the role that serious mental illness plays in homelessness as well as the interventions that are effective at preventing and ending homelessness among persons with serious mental illness. This summary contextualizes a discussion of the practice and policy agenda to address homelessness among people with serious mental illness using a new prevention framework and considering the opportunities inherent in increased affordable health care coverage for very low‐income individuals with serious mental illness.

Permanent supportive housing (PSH) programs have been shown to increase housing retention for "hard to house" individuals and been used to address veteran homelessness. Departures from PSH (referred to as "exits") can represent a positive outcome for some veterans, while others may return to homelessness. This study analyzed administrative and primary data to identify individual- and institutional-level factors associated with veterans' returns to homelessness following exits from a PSH program. Findings suggest that a number of factors increase the risk of a return to homelessness, including admissions to inpatient substance abuse and behavioral health treatment programs and emergency department visits both pre- and post-exit. Targeted interventions may reduce the likelihood of subsequent homelessness.

Purpose. Compare the impact of offering two versus four downloadable songs on response rates to a Web-based survey. Design. One month after participation in a sexual health workshop, students (N = 138) were invited by e-mail to complete a Web-based posttest. The initial incentive of two downloadable songs was increased to four songs midway through data collection. Setting. University of Alabama at Birmingham. Subjects. Undergraduate participants in a peer education workshop. Measures. Response rates were monitored to assess the impact of varying incentive levels on study attrition. Analysis. Frequencies and Pearson's χ2 statistics were used to compare response rates between individuals offered two songs and individuals offered four. Response rates were also examined to assess the impact of doubling the incentive among individuals who were nonrespondents when offered only two songs. Results. Of respondents offered two songs (n = 61), 18% completed the survey. When the incentive was increased to four songs, 26% of those who had not responded to the invitation for two songs (n = 50) completed the survey. Of respondents only offered four songs (n = 77), 57% completed the survey. Conclusion. Increasing incentives from two to four songs significantly improved response rates (p < .001). Determining an acceptable level of incentives for Web-based research has the potential to impact high attrition rates. Downloadable songs could become a mainstream incentive in Web-based research with young adults.

AbstractThis study tested for associations between childhood adversity, adult homelessness and contexts of developmental risk in households with children. Data were drawn from the 2010 Washington State Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, representative of the population of Washington State residents. Considering adults in households with children, those who experienced higher levels of childhood adversity were more likely to have experienced homelessness in adulthood. Meanwhile, a 10‐factor index of cumulative developmental risk was independently associated with childhood adversity and with adult homelessness. Adult homelessness appears to represent a circumstance through which past childhood adversities are brought forward and associated with contexts of developmental risk for subsequent generations of children.