A survey of 532 homeless people in shelter facilities and jail in Baltimore has been completed, of whom 210 have received standardized physical and psychiatric examinations. Of these, 100 have been admitted to a six-month follow-up. Three major data sets have been collected. The baseline survey data, contains information gathered from in-person interviews on demographic characteristics, personal and health history, occupational history, sources of income, history of psychiatric disorders, alcoholism and drug abuse, health service utilization and barriers to utilization. In addition, the instrument incorporates the Eyxenk Personality Inventory, the Mini Mental State Examination, the Quick Test of Intelligence, the General Health Questionnaire and the Short Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test. The Standardized Psychiatric Examination, provides detailed psychopathological data as well as a series of psychiatric diagnosis and disability ratings for each subject and a detailed list of recommendations for treatment, with a statement as to degree of urgency. The physical examination data set contains physical measurements, such as height, weight and skinfold thickness, EKG, chest x-ray and standard laboratory investigations, and a series of diagnoses for each subject with degree of urgency and level of care defined for each. Basic analysis of this extensive and unique data set is under way, but the time already budgeted for data analysis will not be sufficient to exploit its full potential. The richness and complexity of the data set merits additional effort and resources to explore more fully the characteristics and needs of this segment of the population. The analytic plan includes primary and secondary analysis of the data to provide a more comprehensive view of the health, mental health and service needs of homeless people than is currently available. Analyses will be based upon the study's original hypotheses, new hypotheses generated by findings from other studies that have been published since the original proposal was formulated, and new hypotheses arising from the findings of this study. Additional data will be obtained to provide comparison and background data to assist the interpretation of the data already collected, in particular to provide comparison data for interpretation of QT scores and to provide additional information on jail inmates to aid interpretation of data from the jail sample.
| Breakey, W R; Fischer, P J; Kramer, M et al. (1989) Health and mental health problems of homeless men and women in Baltimore. JAMA 262:1352-7 |
