Homeless and Housed Inpatients with Schizophrenia: Disparities in Service Access upon Discharge from Hospital

This study examines differences in services available at the time of discharge for homeless and housed psychiatric inpatients.
Participants diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were recruited from a general hospital psychiatric inpatient
unit. Thirty homeless individuals and 21 housed controls (matched for diagnosis, gender, and age) completed a questionnaire
and clinical interview. Data on discharge services were extracted from the electronic health record. Factors associated with
access to services were examined using logistic regression models. Despite a similar duration of hospitalization to housed
participants, homeless participants were significantly less likely to have outpatient follow-up with a family physician, intensive
case management, assertive community treatment, income support or prescription drug coverage at the time of discharge from
hospital. Although inpatient hospitalization presents an opportunity to reduce homeless people’s barriers to accessing health
and social services, our results show inequities for homeless people persist at the time of discharge.