• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

information for practice

news, new scholarship & more from around the world


advanced search
  • gary.holden@nyu.edu
  • @ Info4Practice
  • Archive
  • About
  • Help
  • Browse Key Journals
  • RSS Feeds

Timing, prevalence, determinants and outcomes of homelessness among patients admitted to acute psychiatric wards

Abstract

Purpose  

To document the prevalence, timing, associations and short-term housing outcomes of homelessness among acute psychiatric inpatients.

Methods  

Cross-sectional study of 4,386 acute psychiatric admissions discharged from a single NHS Trust in 2008–2009.

Results  

Homelessness occurred in 16%. Most homelessness (70%) was either recorded as present at admission or started within 1 week.
It was associated with younger age; male gender; ethnicity other than White British or Black African/Caribbean; being single,
divorced, separated or widowed; diagnosis of drug and alcohol disorder; detention under a forensic section of the Mental Health
Act; having no previous admission or alternatively having a longer previous admission; having a low score on the depressed
mood or hallucinations and delusions items of the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS); and having a high score on
the HoNOS relationship difficulties and occupation and activities items. Of those who were followed-up for 28 days after discharge,
53% had a new address recorded; of those who were not, only 22% did.

Conclusions  

Homelessness affects a substantial minority of psychiatric admissions in the UK. Housing outcomes are uncertain, and it is
possible that more than half continue to be homeless or living in very transient situations. Demographic and diagnostic associations
with homelessness were consistent with US studies; associations with HoNOS item scores and having had no admission in the
preceding 2 years suggest that, in many cases, social adversity predominates over active psychopathology at the time of admission.

  • Content Type Journal Article
  • Category Original Article
  • Pages 1-11
  • DOI 10.1007/s00127-011-0414-4
  • Authors
    • Alex D. Tulloch, Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF UK
    • Paul Fearon, Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF UK
    • Anthony S. David, Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF UK
    • Journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
    • Online ISSN 1433-9285
    • Print ISSN 0933-7954
Posted in: Journal Article Abstracts on 07/18/2011 | Link to this post on IFP |
Share

Primary Sidebar

Categories

Category RSS Feeds

  • Calls & Consultations
  • Clinical Trials
  • Funding
  • Grey Literature
  • Guidelines Plus
  • History
  • Infographics
  • Journal Article Abstracts
  • Meta-analyses - Systematic Reviews
  • Monographs & Edited Collections
  • News
  • Open Access Journal Articles
  • Podcasts
  • Video

© 1993-2023 Dr. Gary Holden. All rights reserved.

gary.holden@nyu.edu
@Info4Practice