We are requesting three years of funding to conduct a research and demonstration project to determine the effects of adding a new short-term residential shelter and day program focusing on the problems of substance abusers to the programs for homeless individuals in the City of New Haven. The proposed program for residential and day treatment of substance abusers was developed from an ongoing collaboration among City officials, the Hill Health Center, faculty at Yale University, and staff at the APT Foundation and other social service, church, and health agencies. The proposed study contrasts the demonstration program providing a three month, twenty four hour residential study in a closely monitored drug-free shelter along with day treatment and 6 additional months of intensive case management services, with a control group receiving only limited case management services in drug-free but unmonitored shelters. The goals of this demonstration project are (1) reduction in substance abuse, particularly cocaine; (2) promotion of more stable living situations; (3) improved economic and employment status among homeless individuals; and (4) integration into community-bases treatment programs for health, mental illness,and substance abuse where there is a need for such services. In addition to conducting a randomized clinical trial, the demonstration project will be evaluated by means of participant observation and other ethnographic techniques.
| Lam, J A; Jekel, J F; Thompson, K S et al. (1995) Assessing the value of a short-term residential drug treatment program for homeless men. J Addict Dis 14:21-39 |
| Spinner, G F; Leaf, P J (1992) Homelessness and drug abuse in New Haven. Hosp Community Psychiatry 43:166-8 |
