Abstract
Introduction
While several major studies have examined services integration at the system or interagency level, there has been far less effort to measure the integration of services at the client-level and its correlates.
Methods
This study presents three client-level measures of services integration, two objective measures, representing the proportion of needed services received and the number of outpatient services received by each client, and one subjective measure, a five-item scale measuring perceived coordination of care among clients’ service providers. Data from the evaluation of the collaborative initiative to help end chronic homelessness (CICH) are used to examine bivariate and multivariate relationships of these three client-level measures to two system-level measures of services integration, one addressing interagency services coordination/planning and the other interagency trust/respect as well as to baseline client characteristics among 734 chronically homeless adults in 11 cities.
Results
Client-level measures of service integration were not strongly associated to each other or to the system-level measures, except for weak associations (r = 0.10) between one objective client measure and the system-level measure of service coordination and planning, and another between client-level use of outpatient mental health services and system-level trust and respect. Multivariate analysis showed that clients who received a greater array of needed services received more service overall and were more likely to have a diagnosis of PTSD and more medical problems, but less serious alcohol problems. Clients who reported more outpatient mental health and substance abuse visits were significantly more likely to be married, to be veterans, to have more serious drug problems, and to be dually diagnosed. Clients with more serious drug problems reported poorer coordination among their service providers on the subjective measure of client-level service integration.
Conclusion
Three client-level measures of services integration were, at best, weakly associated with measures of system-level integration. Positive associations between client-level measures of integration and health status, outpatient service use and negative relationships with indicators of substance abuse suggest they may usefully represent the experiences of chronically homeless clients, even though they are not strongly related to system-level measures.
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Acknowledgements
Peggy Halpern, Paul Dornan, Pete Dougherty, Anne Fletcher, Cynthia High, Mark Johnston, Robyn Raysor, Gay Koerber and other members of the Federal Funders Review Group representing HUD, DHHS, and VA provided essential support and helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper. We wish to specifically acknowledge the CICH evaluation site coordinators; Joyce Jones and Daniel White (Chattanooga), Eugene Herskovic (Chicago), Juanita Wilson (Columbus), Richard DiBlaslo (Denver), Daniel Robbin and Elaine Stein (Ft. Lauderdale), John Nakashima (Los Angeles), Phyllis Larimore (Martinez), Julie Irwin (New York), Vincent Kane and Kimberly Lewis (Philadelphia), Lawrence Brennan (Portland), and Charlene Nason (San Francisco). We would also like to acknowledge Joe Morrissey and Martha Burt for providing assistance with survey construction and study design issues. Brandi Williams coordinated data management at the VA Northeast Program Evaluation Center (NEPEC), computer programming support was provided by Dennis Thompson.
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Mares, A.S., Greenberg, G.A. & Rosenheck, R.A. Client-level Measures of Services Integration Among Chronically Homeless Adults. Community Ment Health J 44, 367–376 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-008-9138-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-008-9138-7