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A Typology of Mentally Disordered Users of Resources for Homeless People: Towards Better Planning of Mental Health Services

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Abstract

The aim of this study is to describe distinct typologies among mentally ill users of resources for homeless people, in order to inform the targeted development of mental health services to address their varied needs. Data came from a survey of clientele of resources for homeless persons in Montreal and Quebec (N = 757) and this study includes the 369 people from this sample who met DSM-IV criteria for serious mental disorders at any point in their lifetime. A hierarchical logistic regression analysis was run with mental health service utilization in the past 12 months (dependent variable), and variables from Pescosolido’s Model (independent variables). Cluster analysis identified six types of homeless persons with mental disorders: women; men with schizophrenia; previously depressed or alcoholic men; men with current depressive disorders; men with comorbidity; and men who were previously homeless. Results are discussed concerning the mental health service use, and needs of these different groups.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants from the Institut de la Statistique du Québec (LF) for the data collection and by Fonds de recherche en Santé du Québec (FRSQ) for the writing of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Nursing Sciences, University of Montreal, C.P. 6128 Succ. Centre-Ville, Montreal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada

    Jean-Pierre Bonin

  2. Centre de recherche Fernand-Seguin, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Jean-Pierre Bonin

  3. Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec (INSPQ), Christophe-Colomb Ave, Office 200, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Louise Fournier

  4. Faculty of Medecine, University of Montreal, C.P. 6128 Succ. Centre-Ville, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Régis Blais

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  1. Jean-Pierre Bonin
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  2. Louise Fournier
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Correspondence to Jean-Pierre Bonin.

Additional information

Louise Fournier and Régis Blais are contributed equally to this work. Authors’ contributions: JPB made substantial contribution in conceiving the idea and hypothesis, participating in the design and planning process, performing the statistical analysis, compiling the results, writing the draft of the manuscript, and being active in the correspondence with journals. LF is the researcher who conceived the survey, acted as the main supervisor, participated in the design and planning process, participated in the final writing of the manuscript. RB helped substantially to identify the clusters and discuss the results, and helped to write the text of the final manuscript. All authors participated in the discussions of the draft outline and contributed later with text revisions and table revisions. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Bonin, JP., Fournier, L. & Blais, R. A Typology of Mentally Disordered Users of Resources for Homeless People: Towards Better Planning of Mental Health Services. Adm Policy Ment Health 36, 223–235 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-009-0206-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-009-0206-2

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