Little is known about public sector service use by homeless persons with alcohol and other drug (AOD) disorders. There has been almost no documentation of the different ways that local systems have attempted to cope with this special population or the challenges and barriers they have faced in doing so. To learn more about these issues and the network of providers serving homeless persons with AOD disorders, we are conducting a series of qualitative studies as part of an NIAAA-funded study. This qualitative work includes a descriptive survey of agencies that regularly provide or refer for AOD treatment for homeless persons in Houston, Texas (recently completely with response rate over 90%) and case interviews with agency personnel serving homeless persons in five sectors (criminal justice, mental health, physical health, social services, alcohol and drug). These qualitative data will complement client-level data collected through an NIMH-study on contact with public sector service agencies by a sample of 797 homeless persons in Houston. The additional qualitative component has two basic purposes: (1) to enhance our understanding of the types of AOD treatment available to homeless individuals with AOD disorders and (2) to understand the organization and delivery of services to homeless adults with AOD disorders across a broad spectrum of human service sectors. In light of the qualitative agency and previously-collected client-level data, we discuss specific barriers to developing a more coordinated and effective cross-system response to managing the care of homeless adults with AOD disorders.
Learning Objectives: At the end of this session participants will be able to:
Keywords: Homeless, Substance Abuse
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
Disclosure not received
Relationship: Not Received.