Understanding outcomes for persons with mental illness living in supportive housing is an enterprise fraught with ambiguities. There are substantive issues of scale/unit of analysis (e.g., individual vs. community), outcome measurement domain (e.g., housing tenure vs. clinical status), treatment paradigm (e.g., harm reduction vs. strict control of substance use), stigma reduction (congregate vs. scatter-site designs), and social integration (contrived communities vs. individual initiative). All of these raise difficult issues of measurement as well. (Should an indicated rehospitalization count as appropriate intervention or a housing “failure” – and what sort of evidence would be needed to decide the question?) An additional concern is that recommendations for research to practice are complicated by a variety of interests and agendas that must be heeded.
This presentation will review such issues and present interim findings from the New York Housing Alternatives Study, one of six studies funded within the CMHS Housing Initiative. The study is designed as a quasi-experiment in which tenant outcomes in supported are compared to outcomes for those in more traditional community residences. The New York study is unique among the six studies in the initiative in that it combines quantitative and quasi-ethnographic inquiries. Tenant outcomes are being systematically measured at new entry into housing up until 18 months later in domains covering residential stability, functional and clinical status, service utilization and costs, recovery and satisfaction are under study. Ethnographic inquiry will provide a finer-grained understanding of the housing models as they actually operate and influence outcomes in the "real" world.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to: 1. Discuss the use of quantitative and quasi-ethnographic methods in a study. 2. Describe tenant outcomes, including more fine-grained descriptions obtained from ethnographic observations of supported housing.
Keywords: Mental Illness, Housing
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.