Homelessness & Mental Illness

These sorts of comparisons cannot help but find the homeless "deviant" in relation to the nonhomeless, a conclusion that provides little insight into the factors which are unique to homelessness and which do not only apply to poverty. Thus "better comparison groups are necessary" to isolate these factors (280). Some argue that, in fact, homelessness is part of a "continuum of poverty and residential instability" (280).

Geographical comparisons or "matching," in the "era of gentrification" no longer provide reliable data on socioeconomic status since the rich are moving into neighborhoods once inhabited by the poor.

. . .
individual's history of housing to define the homeless." It compares the homeless with the nonhomeless groups" who can be termed precariously housed or at serious risk of homelessness (282). The participants in the study are 144 adults, sampled randomly and interviewed over an 11-month period: 56 were sampled from a soup kitchen, 58 from a food-pantry-soup kitchen, and 30 from a meal-providing shelter (282). Participants were on average about 34 years old--50 percent white and predominately male. Of the group, 50 percent had never been married, were currently divorced, separated or widowed (282). 59 were homeless when the interview was conducted, 31 had been homeless earlier, and 54 had never been homeless (282). In order to insure reliability, 31 of the 144 participants were reinterviewed one week later by a different graduate student (282). The measures for evaluation of the participants were diverse and substantive. HIST, the Housing, Income, and Services Timeline were used to evaluate a person's life history from employment and income to the utilization of social services. Also implemented were mental health status evaluations that determined the history of psychiatric hospitalization, and provided a checklist of s
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Comparative Study, Verbal Aggression, Moreover SCL-90-R, Homelessness Poverty, Scale SRRS, Symptom Checklist, Services Timeline, Network Interview, List ISEL, Events ICE, mental illness, substance abuse, currently homeless, homelessness poverty, homeless people, stressful life events, previously homeless, precariously housed, domestic violence, residential instability, life events, distinguishing homelessness poverty, mental health status, 284 currently homeless, residential instability 287,
Approximate Word count = 1722
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Homelessness & Mental Illness