Recorded presentation

Debra J. Rog, PhD and Homeless Families Program Mental Health Working Group. Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies, 1915 I Street, NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20006, 202-833-3512, debra.j.rog@vanderbilt.edu

The CMHS/CSAT Homeless Families Program is the first national initiative designed to evaluate interventions focused on homeless families headed by mothers experiencing psychiatric, substance abuse, and/or trauma disorders. Although the eight sites varied to some degree in their screening processes for eligible families, all sites enrolled families who on average scored at least one standard deviation above the norm on the Global Severity Index (mean of 62 across all eight sites). More than one fourth of the families had one or more psychiatric hospitalizations in the past, and nearly half in all sites had received some level of mental health services in their lifetime. This presentation will focus on the mental health needs of the 1656 mothers in both the treatment and control conditions across the eight sites, highlighting the intensity of those needs and the extent to which they were unmet at baseline. Results of analyses of the impact of the various interventions on mental health functioning will be examined with early outcome data. Models proposed will include individual level moderators as well as relevant program ingredient mediators that may help to explain outcome variations.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Attendees will learn about the mental health needs of families experiencing homelessness in this particular initiative.
• 2. Attendees will learn about various mental health interventions for homeless families and early indications of their role in improving mental health functioning.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
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.

Recorded presentation