Mental disorder among homeless and poor people : A comparison of assessment methods

• Published in: Community mental health journal Vol. 35; no. 1; pp. 57 - 67
• Main Authors: BELLAVIA, C. W, TORO, P. A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Springer 01.02.1999; Behavioral Publications, etc; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Adults; Alcohol; Assessment; Biological and medical sciences; Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale; Buffalo; Comparative analysis; Drug abuse; Evaluation; Female; Food programs; Homeless people; Homeless Persons - psychology; Homelessness; Hospitalization; Humans; Interview, Psychological; Interviews; Lifetime; Low Income Groups; Male; Medical sciences; Mental disorders; Mental Disorders - diagnosis; Mental Disorders - epidemiology; Mental Disorders - psychology; Mental Illness; Methodology; Methodology (Data Collection); New York; New York - epidemiology; Observer Variation; Poor people; Poverty - psychology; Psychiatric disorders; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometric Analysis; Psychometrics. Diagnostic aid systems; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Schizophrenia; Severity of Illness Index; Substance Abuse; Techniques and methods; USA; New York; Human; Homeless; Poverty; Socioeconomic status; Methodology; Mental disorder; Psychometrics; Diagnosis; Measurement method; Comparative study; Data gathering
• ISSN: 0010-3853; 1573-2789
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1018748009525

This study assessed mental disorders among 144 homeless and poor adults using four different methods: (a) history of psychiatric hospitalization, (b) structured clinical interview, (c) self-report symptom checklist, and (d) interviewer ratings. These four methods yielded divergent estimates of mental illness, ranging from 3-70%. Correlations assessing the degree of overlap among the measures were generally modest in magnitude. The results suggest that the variation in rates of mental illness across existing studies is due to methodological differences and that, with the exception of the structured interview, the various methods fail to adequately distinguish mental disorder from substance abuse.