The Importance of Context in Understanding Homelessness and Mental Illness: Lessons Learned From a Research Demonstration Project

Research reports on the housing outcomes for persons who are homeless and mentally ill have focused on client characteristics, program type, and services as independent variables, with mixed results. From social work practice, evaluation theory, and public policy perspectives, context is an important variable. Yet, it has received scant research attention in studies of the outcomes of persons who are mentally ill and homeless. This article summarizes research results from a demonstration project providing outreach or linkage services to this target population, illustrating the significant impact of context variables (site and recruitment source) on client characteristics, implementation, qualitative and quantitative service assessments, and housing outcomes. The discussion suggests how these contextual factors may operate, and it goes on to make recommendations to improve social work research and practice concerning the important dimensions of context that should be assessed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69136/2/10.1177_104973159800800203.pd

The

The cross-section of the thermal neutron capture 41Ar(n,γ)42Ar(t1/2=32.9 y) reaction was measured by irradiating a 40Ar sample at the high-flux reactor of Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) Grenoble, France. The signature of the two-neutron capture has been observed by measuring the growth curve and identifying the 1524.6 keV γ-lines of the shorter-lived 42K(12.4 h) β− daughter of 42Ar. Our preliminary value of the 41Ar(n,γ)42Ar thermal cross section is 240(80) mb at 25.3 meV. For the first time, direct counting of 42Ar was performed using the ultra-high sensitivity technique of noble gas accelerator mass spectrometry (NOGAMS) at Argonne National Laboratory, USA