Services Provided by a Homeless Intervention: Policy and Planning Implications

Despite the acknowledged need for effective programs to serve persons who are homeless and mentally ill, few evaluations of these programs provide quantitative details on service provision. Such information can be useful to planners for replication and also for public policy concerning the need to mandate services most in demand. This report on a successful outreach intervention reports information on service amounts, duration, and types, as well as identifying predictors of service use. The overall amount of service provided to eligible participants varied substantially. While the median duration was only three months, repeat service episodes were common. For most clients, homeless project intervention included a variety of types of activities; most prevalent were housing, case management, mental health interventions and service entry, including engagement and assessment. Skill-building activities were relatively infrequent. Results from a cluster analysis, used to group clients based on patterns of services received, showed that groupings followed a focus on either: mental health, case management, housing, or a low overall level of total services. Surprisingly, no individual client descriptors or demographics related to cluster membership; only project site and recruitment source were significant predictors. The discussion suggests implications of these findings for other projects and sites and brings into question whether or not service participation and receipt by individuals who are homeless and mentally ill reflect characteristics of clients or of systems available to serve them

Enculturation and Attitudes Toward Intimate Partner Violence and Gender Roles in an Asian Indian Population: Implications for Community‐Based Prevention

This study examined the relationships among enculturation, attitudes supporting intimate partner violence (IPV‐supporting attitudes), and gender role attitudes among one of the largest Asian Indian population groups in the US. Data were collected via computer‐assisted telephone interviews with a random sample of Gujarati men and women aged 18–64 in Metropolitan Detroit. Using structural equation modeling, we modeled the effects of three components of enculturation (behavior, values, and community participation) on gender role attitudes and IPV‐supporting attitudes among married respondents (N = 373). Analyses also accounted for the effects of respondent age, education, religious service attendance, perceived financial difficulty, and lengths of residence in the US. The second‐order, overall construct of enculturation was the strongest predictor of IPV‐supporting attitudes (standardized B = 0.61), but not gender role attitudes. Patriarchal gender role attitudes were positively associated with IPV‐supporting attitudes (B = 0.49). In addition to the overall effect of the enculturation construct, two of the components of enculturation had specific effects. “Enculturation‐values” had a specific positive indirect association with IPV‐supporting attitudes, through its relationship with patriarchal gender role attitudes. However, “enculturation‐community participation” was negatively associated with IPV‐supporting attitudes, suggesting the importance of community‐based prevention of IPV among this immigrant population group.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/117013/1/ajcp9627.pd

A Possible Selves Intervention to Enhance School Involvement

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/89945/1/oyserman__terry__bybee__2002.pd

Short versus longer term effectiveness of an outreach program for the homeless mentally Ill

Presents 12‐month follow‐up results from an outreach/linkage intervention with persons who are homeless and mentally ill, contrasting these with results obtained at 4 months. Both sets reflect the success of the program in placing individuals in independent housing. However, longer term data provide useful information regarding client movement patterns and increased tenure in nonhomeless living arrangements beyond the termination of specialized services. Analyses of 12‐month residential outcomes identified four variables as significant predictors: recruitment source, project service duration, CMH service duration, and client age. In contrast to 4‐month predictors, variables reflecting baseline client functioning were no longer significantly related to outcome, suggesting that the positive effects of the intervention may take longer to achieve with some clients. Discussion focuses on the implications of these effectiveness results for future research designs and measures as well as the utility and limitations of preexperimental approaches for evaluating innovative service models when implementation and efficacy experiences are lacking.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/117248/1/ajcpbf02506862.pd

Establishing Individualized Goals in a Supported Education Intervention: Program Influences on Goal-Setting and Attainment

Objectives: Support for goal-setting and attainment is a frequent component of social work interventions aimed at fostering client growth. This study investigated goal-setting and attainment in the Michigan Supported Education Research Project, an intervention that provides support for adults with psychiatric disabilities to engage in postsecondary education. Method: An experimental design with three conditions was used and data was collected at five time points. The sample included 397 adults. Results: Results indicate increased complexity of goal statements over time. Goals became more specific for those in the treatment conditions and for those who were high participants. Multivariate models found that selecting school as the most important goal was a significant factor in predicting later enrollment. Conclusions: Interventions can influence the goals that are set by individuals. Because of its importance to social work practice, researchers and practitioners should pay more explicit attention to goal-setting.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68745/2/10.1177_104973159900900405.pd

Independent Effects of Paternal Involvement and Maternal Mental Illness on Child Outcomes

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/89957/1/father_involvement.pd

Improving Social Work Practice with Persons Who are Homeless and Mentally Ill

Despite a proliferation of programs targeted for persons who are homeless and mentally ill, few reports in the literature detail the challenges experienced or strategies utilized by workers, the majority of whom are social workers. The present study reports results from two focus group sessions held with staff running a model service intervention for this population at two separate sites. The methodology that was utilized quanitified results, allowing presentation of themes, as well as comparisons of the frequency of responses across categories and by site. Staff perceived barriersa ssociatedw ith client behaviors and characteristicsp redominated at both sites. However, systemic and other external barriers were also frequently mentioned. Although not part of the focus group questions, staff spontaneously made mention of their personal feelings and how they were handled. Site differences were identified in the frequency with which certain strategies to handle client and systemic barriers were mentioned. The discussion focuses on implications for the education and training of social workers who provide services to individuals who are homeless and mentally ill

Living Arrangements and Social Support: Effects on the Well-Being of Mothers with Mental Illness

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/89958/1/living_arrangements_and_social_support.pd

Long-term trends in depression among women separated from abusive partners

This study tested a cumulative adversity hypothesis, where differences in postseparation stressors among battered women were expected to lead to a widening gap in levels of women’s depression over time. Ninety-four women separated fromtheir abusive partners were interviewed six times over a 2-year period. Consistent with the hypothesis, inequalities grew over time.Women who were exposed to the greatest amount of violence and secondary stressors shortly after shelter exit experienced relatively higher levels of depression that either did not improve or significantly increased with time. Social support was the only resource to have the hypothesized decreasing effect on depression.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90508/1/Anderson-Saunders-Yoshihama-Bybee-Sullivan _2003 Long term trends in depression among survivors VAW.pd