Reducing mental health needs of youth living in shelters

Aim: To examine the effects of the HOPE intervention on the mental health needs of youth living in New York City family shelters. Methods: HOPE is a family-based HIV and drug abuse prevention program for youth (ages 11 -14) and their adult caregivers living in homeless shelters in New York City which emphasizes improvement of family processes (e.g. family support, family communication, and monitoring and supervision) as a means of prevention. Analysis was conducted to determine if secondary programmatic effects on mental health outcomes among the youth exist. Parents who completed baseline and post-test measures and whose youth fell into the “Some needs” or “High needs” categories within each respective sub-scale were included in subsequent analysis. These sub-scales included emotional symptoms (n = 29), conduct problems (n = 38), hyperactivity (n = 18), peer problems (n = 44), and global mental health (n = 21). Results: Analysis using repeated measures ANOVA revealed a reduction in the mental health needs of youth. According to parent completed scales, mental health needs among their youth in the domains of emotional symptoms (F = 21.0, p<.001), conduct problems (F = 12.0, p<.001), hyperactivity (F = 16.2, p<.001), peer problems (F = 6.4, p<.05, and total mental health problems (F = 7.4, p<.01) all were all significantly reduced. Conclusion: More mental health services should be offered for youth residing in family shelters. Additionally, family-based preventive interventions implemented in shelters may benefit the mental health outcomes of youth residing in these facilities.