Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social Work Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 16 of 16

Full-Text Articles in Social Work

Comparison Of Housed And Homeless Patients With An Orthopedic Diagnosis, Susan M. Williams Oct 2014

Comparison Of Housed And Homeless Patients With An Orthopedic Diagnosis, Susan M. Williams

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Studies on homelessness have shown that people who are homeless are admitted to hospital more frequently, for longer periods of time, and at a younger age than people who are housed. Once admitted to hospital, discharge planning is difficult and resource intensive, often leading to discharge back to the streets or a shelter. This puts this population at risk for complications and readmission. Although people who are homeless are prone to orthopedic injuries, there is no research on the outcomes of patients who are homeless with orthopedic injuries. This retrospective, case control study, based on the social determinants of health, …


Development And Validation Of An Instrument To Assess Imminent Risk Of Homelessness Among Veterans, Ann Elizabeth Montgomery, Jamison Fargo, Vincent Kane, Dennis P. Culhane Aug 2014

Development And Validation Of An Instrument To Assess Imminent Risk Of Homelessness Among Veterans, Ann Elizabeth Montgomery, Jamison Fargo, Vincent Kane, Dennis P. Culhane

Dennis P. Culhane

Objectives. Veterans are overrepresented within the homeless population compared with their non-veteran counterparts, particularly when controlling for poverty. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) aims to prevent new episodes of homelessness by targeting households at greatest risk; however, there are no instruments that systematically assess veterans’ risk of homelessness. We developed and tested a brief screening instrument to identify imminent risk of homelessness among veterans accessing VA health care.
Methods. The study team developed initial assessment items, conducted cognitiveinterviews with veterans experiencing homelessness, refined pilot items based on veterans’ and experts’ feedback and results of psychometric analyses, and assigned …


A Dereliction Of Duty: Homeless Veterans In America, Christopher R. Fee Jun 2014

A Dereliction Of Duty: Homeless Veterans In America, Christopher R. Fee

English Faculty Publications

U.S. government efforts to help homeless veterans in America are not enough.

When I first began grappling with homelessness issues in my local community quite a number of years ago, Dave, then-director of the local homeless shelter in our small town, told me a story that illustrates some of the special circumstances faced by homeless veterans in America.

Dave said a community of homeless vets had based themselves in caves in the hills outside of town, and after one was stricken with pneumonia and had to be hospitalized, his ongoing recovery left health care providers with a thorny dilemma. Clearly, …


Where Are All The Services?: An Administrators Perspective On Homeless Services In Western Riverside County, Sarah Crane Jun 2014

Where Are All The Services?: An Administrators Perspective On Homeless Services In Western Riverside County, Sarah Crane

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The focus of this study was to better understand the state of homeless services in Western Riverside County’s unincorporated areas and cities. Though various services are available to the homeless in these areas, the distance between the appropriate services and some residential parts of the county can be vast. This study sought to obtain an understanding from the administrators of homeless services providers on the deficiencies in services across the county, striving to understand where and what type of increased services are needed.

This study used a qualitative research design. Data were collected from nine homeless service administrators from around …


The Relationship Between Community Investment In Permanent Supportive Housing And Chronic Homelessness, Thomas Byrne, Jamison Fargo, Ann Elizabeth Montgomery, Ellen Munley, Dennis P. Culhane May 2014

The Relationship Between Community Investment In Permanent Supportive Housing And Chronic Homelessness, Thomas Byrne, Jamison Fargo, Ann Elizabeth Montgomery, Ellen Munley, Dennis P. Culhane

Dennis P. Culhane

In recent years, permanent supportive housing PSH has emerged as the preferred intervention for addressing chronic homelessness in the United States. However, almost all prior studies examining the effectiveness of PSH have been conducted at the individual level, with only minimal attempts to empirically test the relationship between PSH and chronic homelessness at the community level. This study uses longitudinal data collected by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD and several other sources to model the relationship between measures of community investment in PSH and rates of chronic homelessness. The results show modest negative associations between increased …


A Lost Generation, Christopher R. Fee May 2014

A Lost Generation, Christopher R. Fee

English Faculty Publications

America is in immediate danger of throwing away a vast number of our young people; these are kids who have fallen through the gaping holes in our social services net and have landed on our streets. They roam this country by the thousands in search of simple necessities such as food and a warm place to sleep, often trading their bodies in exchange for the most basic of human rights. In the words of Michael Stoops, Director of Community Organizing at the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington, DC, "there is a dire need for more shelter beds for …


Want To Honor Vets This Memorial Day? Help End Veterans' Homelessness, Christopher R. Fee May 2014

Want To Honor Vets This Memorial Day? Help End Veterans' Homelessness, Christopher R. Fee

English Faculty Publications

Memorial Day is a day for remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

As we gather around the grill with loved ones, let's also remember veterans who survived their term of service only to find themselves without a place of their own to celebrate holidays.

When I first began grappling with homelessness in my local community years ago, Dave, then the director of the local homeless shelter in our small town, told me a story which illustrates some of the special circumstances faced by homeless veterans in America. [excerpt]


Interagency Collaboration And The Homeless Population: Barriers, Supports, And Willingness To Change, Dana Irene Tweit May 2014

Interagency Collaboration And The Homeless Population: Barriers, Supports, And Willingness To Change, Dana Irene Tweit

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

Homelessness is a growing clinical concern is social work and in any helping profession. As the number of homeless population grows, counties in Minnesota attempt to collaborate and problem solve possible solutions. Interagency collaborations is not unique to social work of to this population, yet many agonies collaborate with others on a large scale to formulate solutions to this epidemic. This study identifies 8 participants who were currently in an interagency collaboration for the homeless population. The focus was on the willingness of agencies to change to collaborate to benefit the homeless, barriers that arise, and supports or successes about …


The Voice Of The Homeless Adult Male: Perceptions Of Those Who Have Successfully Transitioned To Self-Sufficiency, Dallas W. Gatlin May 2014

The Voice Of The Homeless Adult Male: Perceptions Of Those Who Have Successfully Transitioned To Self-Sufficiency, Dallas W. Gatlin

Ed.D. Dissertations

This study drew out and described the perceptions of 10 men who successfully made the transition from homelessness to self-sufficiency. Responding to semi-structured openended questions in a one-on-one interview format, participants shared perceptions about their lived-experiences before, during, and after chronic homelessness, and how they navigated the difficult journey to self-sufficiency. The researcher used conventional content analysis to allow the perspectives of participants to emerge from their own words in themes and meaning units. The findings of this study suggest that from participants’ point of view loss of social support due to the death of a parent or spouse, divorce, …


Impact And Performance Of The Supportive Services For Veteran Families (Ssvf) Program: Results From The Fy 2013 Program Year, Thomas Byrne, John Kuhn, Dennis P. Culhane, Susan Kane, Vincent Kane Apr 2014

Impact And Performance Of The Supportive Services For Veteran Families (Ssvf) Program: Results From The Fy 2013 Program Year, Thomas Byrne, John Kuhn, Dennis P. Culhane, Susan Kane, Vincent Kane

Dennis P. Culhane

The Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program represents a crucial component of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) plan to prevent and end homelessness among Veterans. Operationalized in Federal Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, SSVF is the first and only VA program that provides services to Veterans and their families. SSVF is a community-based, competitive grant program that rapidly re-houses homeless Veteran families and prevents homelessness for those at imminent risk due to a housing crisis. The program focuses on achieving housing stability through a short-term, customized intervention using a time limited case management approach. Services include financial assistance …


Yes, Gettysburg C.A.R.E.S., Christopher R. Fee Apr 2014

Yes, Gettysburg C.A.R.E.S., Christopher R. Fee

English Faculty Publications

Founded in the autumn of 2012, Gettysburg C.A.R.E.S. is a collaborative effort by local churches and citizens to provide emergency shelter to those without housing of any kind during the winter months. [excerpt]


Estimating Cost Savings Associated With Hud-Vash Placement, Thomas Byrne, Christopher B. Roberts, Dennis P. Culhane, Vincent Kane Mar 2014

Estimating Cost Savings Associated With Hud-Vash Placement, Thomas Byrne, Christopher B. Roberts, Dennis P. Culhane, Vincent Kane

Dennis P. Culhane

Existing research suggests that Veterans experiencing homelessness make disproportionate and costly use of acute health, mental health and substance abuse treatment services, but that placement in programs like the US Department of Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing Program (HUD-VASH) can result in substantial reductions in the utilization of these services and associated costs. Several studies have demonstrated that, for certain high need individuals and Veterans, cost savings resulting from the reduction in these acute care services subsequent to placement in permanent supportive housing (PSH) can substantially or completely offset the cost of providing PSH and may even result in …


These Kids Today, Christopher R. Fee Mar 2014

These Kids Today, Christopher R. Fee

English Faculty Publications

National Volunteer Week, an annual challenge and opportunity for all of us to engage with our communities, is April 6-12 this year, and recent data suggest that this could be a good opportunity to re-commit ourselves to rising to the many challenges these communities currently face. [excerpt]


“They Can Only Do So Much:” Use Of Family While Coping With Rural Homelessness, Deanna L. Trella, Timothy P. Hilton Jan 2014

“They Can Only Do So Much:” Use Of Family While Coping With Rural Homelessness, Deanna L. Trella, Timothy P. Hilton

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

This research explores individual and family reliance on non-homeless family members in coping with homelessness in a rural area. Drawing on 114 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with homeless adults and families in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, we found that almost all participants relied on non-homeless family members for assistance, but with variation in the amount of help sought and received. Some participants displayed high thresholds for help-seeking, only relying on family under extreme circumstances and generally asking for modest assistance. This was common among childless single homeless adults who often had different support. Other participants displayed low thresholds for help-seeking, frequently asking …


Youth Homelessness: Prevalence And Mental Health Correlates, Staci M. Perlman, Joe Willard, Janette Herbers, J.J. Cutuli, Karin M. Eyrich Garg Jan 2014

Youth Homelessness: Prevalence And Mental Health Correlates, Staci M. Perlman, Joe Willard, Janette Herbers, J.J. Cutuli, Karin M. Eyrich Garg

Staci Perlman

No abstract provided.


Parenting In The Face Of Homelessness, Staci M. Perlman, Sandy Sheller, Karen Hudson, C. Leigh Wilson Dec 2013

Parenting In The Face Of Homelessness, Staci M. Perlman, Sandy Sheller, Karen Hudson, C. Leigh Wilson

Staci Perlman

The number of families with children experiencing homelessness increased by over 30% from 2007 to 2011 (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2011). Of the more than 300,000 children within these families, it is estimated that the majority are under age six (National Center on Family Homelessness, 2009). These young children and their families are disproportionately more likely to experience a myriad of structural, economic, social, and health stressors. Left unaddressed, these stress experiences can adversely influence children’s short- and long-term growth, development, and well-being (Shonkoff, 2011). Recent research demonstrates the protective influence that positive parent-child relationships can exert …