LIFE Transitions IN Vulnerable Populations; Merging RESEARCH and Practice for Homeless Veterans SERVICES

The process of transitioning from post-deployment to civilian or non-active duty services is complex, multifactorial, and, at the same time, both highly social and individual. The research aim of a new COMPASShome project at the DC VAMC, is to build a public management capacity incorporating both governmental and non-governmental agencies focusing on developing a framework of policies to address a critical phase during military-to-civilian (MtC) life transition, focusing on a special vulnerable population: homeless Veterans. Our working definition of homelessness builds on accepted VA health codes that identify a Veteran as homeless based on the lack of housing at a single or numerous time points. The main goal of the District of Columbia Collaborative Network for Community Integration in Homeless Veterans (COMPASShome) is to establish new practices and enhance services aimed at homeless Veterans, to promote Veterans' psychological health and foster their reintegration back into the community. COMPASShome addresses homelessness in Veterans using a variety of methods: from an epidemiological study to develop a profile of homeless Veterans to identifying post-deployment periods most sensitive to homeless episodes; from the development of clinical tools for psychological health screening to rehabilitation interventions specific to Veterans who are experiencing homelessness. The COMPASShome conceptual framework builds on a modified Behavior Model for Vulnerable Populations to guide the analytical design of study outcomes. Activities employ findings from various service models for assisting homeless Veterans thus merging research-driven and service-based evidence into a unified framework to guide homeless Veterans research.