The article I focused on this week was related to both mental illness and homelessness, but with an emphasis on law enforcement. The article was titled, “Police and Homeless Outreach Worker Partnerships: Policing of Homeless Individuals with Mental Illness in Washington D.C.” The article is located in the scholarly journal called ‘Human Organization’ and was written by Jennie Simpson.

Simpson, Jennie. 2015. “Police and Homeless Outreach Worker Partnerships: Policing of Homeless Individuals with Mental Illness in Washington, D.C.” Human Organization 74 (2): 125-134. http://ezproxy.redlands.edu/docview/1688054975?accountid=14729.

The article decided to put an emphasis on law enforcement in relation to the homeless population and mental illness because of the attention of it in the media. In recent years there were police shootings that unfortunately killed several mentally ill homeless in several different states. The police in Washington D.C. recognized this tragedy and decided it would be best to put their efforts into a worthy cause and partner with the Homeless Outreach Programs that are available in D.C. Unfortunately, due to our economy services that could help the mentally ill have shit down leaving them homeless. The research question being asked is, “Is law enforcement partnering with homeless outreach programs a possible solution?” To answer this question the author uses ethnographic data to watch interactions between the police and the homeless before and after they informally partnered with the homeless outreach programs. To analyze this type of data, would be qualitative data. It is qualitative data because you have to turn your observations into categories they can analyze. Something I found interesting in this is that the article made it a point to stress that this was a difficult task for the police officers. It was difficult because they wanted to reduce crime through law enforcement, but were also trying to provide services to the less fortunate.

I focused my article on homeless shelters to see the different things they provide for clients, but more specifically I focused on women in shelters and the services offered to them. This was an article in ProQuest titled, “Homeless Shelters in Alabama: A Study on women’s health services.” The author of this article is Veta Robinson.

Robinson, Veta. “Homeless Shelters in Alabama: A Study of Women’s Health Services.” Order No. AAI3544008, . http://ezproxy.redlands.edu/docview/1520338981?accountid=14729.

The article was focused on women because studies have shown that women and families are the highest growing groups in the homeless population. There have been no studies done though to focus specifically on services offered toward women. They wanted to see if women knew of the services that were provided for them and/or if they were utilizing them. In order to obtain this information they would use surveys/questionaries to see what the women are aware of and if they are utilizing any of the programs. Also used surveys to ask the directors/staff if they provide any specific programs toward women. To analyze this data they will use qualitative data to find patterns in the women’s responses. It was interesting to read that there wasn’t a consistent pattern in what the women were and were not aware of. They either knew about none of the services that they could be using or they were aware of them and were utilizing them or preferred not to utilize them. I thought this was interesting because this showed that only a certain amount of the homeless population knew of varying services, meaning that as the homeless population is growing they need to increase peoples knowledge of what they can do to help themselves and who is there to help them.

I focused my article on mental illness and people who receive low incomes rather than focusing strictly on the homeless population. My article is titled, “The Association Between Income Inequality and Mental Health: Testing Status Anxiety, Social Capital, and Neo-Materialist Explanations” in the journal “European Sociological Review.” The article was written by Richard Layte

Layte, Richard. “The Association Between Income Inequality and Mental Health: Testing Status Anxiety, Social Capital, and Neo-Materialist Explanations.” European Sociological Review 28, no. 4 (2012): 498-511. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.redlands.edu/stable/23272534.

This article focuses on how ones income may affect their mental stability and state. The author created a series of 3 hypotheses that he wanted to test to see if any of them played  a factor in mental stability. For example, status anxiety to see if people who were in a lower income bracket had anxiety about their social status since they could not afford the same things/stress about money. The research question being asked is, “Does one’s income affect their mental state?” To test his theories the author would have to use two different types of data. He would use economic data and psychological trait data. To gather economic data that would require looking at records and acquiring someone’s current financial situation. To gather psychological data this would require in depth interviews and potentially surveys. To analyze this data one would use interval data for economic data and qualitative data for psychological data.

The research study I found this week is from the book called, “Changes in Mental Illness Stigma in California During the Statewide Stigma and Discrimination Reduction Initiative.” This book was written by a various of authors including, Rebecca Collins, Eunice Wong, Elizabeth Roth, Jennifer Cerully, and Joyce Marks.

Collins, Rebecca L., Eunice C. Wong, Elizabeth Roth, Jennifer L. Cerully, and Joyce S. Marks. “Changes in Mental Illness Stigma in California During the Statewide Stigma and Discrimination Reduction Initiative.” In Changes in Mental Illness Stigma in California During the Statewide Stigma and Discrimination Reduction Initiative, 1-10. RAND Corporation, 2015. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.redlands.edu/stable/10.7249/j.ctt15sk8gd.1.

A big part in change toward the mentally ill in general is changing the stigma around it. This book focuses on taking a small step toward change by trying to implement initiatives in California toward mental illness. This study included finding about what Californians knew about ways to help the mentally ill and to further inform them to hopefully make mentally ill people more socially accepted in society instead of outcasted. The research question in this piece is “How many Californians know about mentally ill programs to help change their stigmas?” The type of data needed for this project is shallow opinions and attitudes. In order to obtain this type of data they will need to contact a series of surveys – they chose to do phone surveys at random to adults 18 and older. This requires qualitative data analysis because people are sharing their opinions and they need to be interpreted since everyone has different thoughts. I believe this research project was conducted well. They chose a sample at random throughout the entire state and even accounted for different races, which I thought was interesting, but a nice touch.

The article I found this week was from the journal, “Australian Journal of Social Issues” titled, “Are the Homeless Mentally Ill?” The contributing authors are Guy Johnson and Chris Chamberlain.

Johnson, G., & Chamberlain, C. (2011). Are the homeless mentally ill? Australian Journal of Social Issues, 46(1), 29-48,3-4. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.redlands.edu/docview/874622236?accountid=14729

This article focused on the mentally ill in homeless people in Australia. The research question was asking if people were mentally ill prior to being homeless. The reason for this study is because many people believe that the leading cause to being homeless is due to mental illness. However, no one ever stops to think about that fact that mental illness can be a result of being homeless. Imagine sleeping on the street, not knowing when your next meal will be, and if the police will come stop to talk to you or kick you out of where you are. I think anyone in this situation would develop some sort of anxiety or depression. Add being lonely, and potentially in and out of the legal system because there are citations that have to be dealt with, ultimately leading someone to drink or do drugs to cope with their problems. It is a safe bet that whether or not someone had a mental illness prior to being homeless it can develop or worsen. The type of data needed to answer this question is reports of acts, behaviors, and events to understand the persons past and present situation/state of mind. Deeply held opinions and attitudes can also be used to get to know the person better. The method used to gather this data will be looking at past reports (if there are any) and interviews to better understand the person. The method of data analysis that was used was categorical data to describe if they had mental illness prior to being homeless or not. I believe this study was conducted well, in the manner that they did several studies in various locations and areas, such as not only focusing on people in homeless shelters. Something I found interesting is that they did find a larger number of people who developed a mental illness once they became homeless – mainly facing depression and anxiety.

The article that I found this week from a scholarly journal, “Medical Care,” titled, “Street Outreach for Homeless Persons with Serious Mental Illness Is It Effective?” The contributing authors to this piece are Julie Lam and Robert Rosenheck.

Lam, Julie A., and Robert Rosenheck. “Street Outreach for Homeless Persons with Serious Mental Illness Is It Effective?” Medical Care 37, no. 9 (1999): 894-907. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.redlands.edu/stable/3767420.

This article focused on the mentally ill homeless who were contacted through street outreach compared to those contacted in shelters and other service agencies. The reason for this study is because the street homeless, especially the mentally ill, are typically the hardest ones to engage in services. There is evidence that if they engaged in the programs it would benefit them, but the problem is the first step – actually getting them to engage. This specific group needs a lot more time and care because they are so vulnerable, which is why street outreach is important since they will take the time to see what services they need. The research question being asked in this study is, “Is it effective for Street Outreach to engage with the homeless suffering with serious mental illness?” There are several types of data that could be used to answer this question. All types vary from acts, behaviors, events, to deep opinions and attitudes, personal feelings, and personal and psychological traits. The data gathering method used took 3 years to gather information from clients – from when the program was first contacted, to the enrollment, to 3 months after enrollment. Those on the street expressed less interest in the course, but those who did end up enrolling did show improvement in the end. I would say this research study was done well because they took time to get proper results. They also took the time to truly help patients to see if that is what they needed – time. For the criteria of this study the client had to have severe mental illness, not currently in treatment, and homeless. There are always several definitions of the word “homeless,” but the definition of “homeless” in this study meant that from the first contact they had to have spent at least 7 out of the past 14 nights in a shelter, outdoors, or a public or abandon building.

Sine I have decided to focus my study on mental illness, I thought it would be interesting to read an article focused on learning disabilities and anxiety. The article I found is titled, “Learning Disabilities and Anxiety: A Meta-Analysis” that came from the journal “Journal of Learning Disabilities” on page 3-7. The contributing authors were Jason M. Nelson and Hannah Harwood.

Nelson, Jason M., and Hannah Harwood. “Learning Disabilities and Anxiety: A Meta-Analysis.” Journal of Learning Disabilities44, no. 1 (2010): 3-17. Doi:10.1177/0022219409359939.

This article is studying kids with learning disabilities compared to those who do not have learning disabilities to see if there is a difference in their anxiety levels. The researched 58 studies out of 533 and their results proved that students who had a learning disability had a higher level of anxiety. The articles research question is “Does having a learning disability effect ones anxiety level?” The type of data needed to conduct this study in order to answer the question is reports of acts, behaviors, and events. The type of data gathering method used by the researches was using private and public records. They researched several different databases throughout libraries from 1977 (because this was the first year learning disabilities became a special education classification) to 2007. The data method analysis used would be categorical data because they are being organized into specific groups.

I think this research was done well because they compared several different reports over a span of 30 years. They were also precisely specific with the forms of data they used. After a series of looking through hundreds of databases and articles they found 58 that met their criteria. For example, if they found a study that had used people from a previous study they would exclude it. Also if they found one that did not use a control group they excluded the study. They wanted to be sure what they were researching from past studies would be able to properly answer their research question. Something I found interesting was that they looked at students with learning disabilities and their anxiety levels to see their informant type. They wanted to know whether it was self-report, teacher, hospital, parent, ect. making the report. I found this interesting because I never thought how the answers could change because each person, including yourself sees you in a different setting. Your teacher does not see you in the same setting as your mom, but a doctor is not going to see you in the same setting as your teacher causing some answers and levels to vary.

I could not find a written journal that related directly to the causes of homelessness, but I did find an article about housing discrimination amongst woman. The article is titled, “ Searching for Housing as a Battered Woman: Does Discrimination Affect Reported Availability of a Rental Unit?” that came from the journal source “Psychology of Women Quarterly.” The contributing authors are Paula Barata and Donna Stewart.

In this study, they are studying to see if the reports battered women have made about being discriminated from housing is true. It is an issue that has been reported dozens of times, but something that has not been examined or studied fully to determine the causes. Battered women have reported that landlords have denied them housing or wrongfully evicted them for a variety of reasons we assume. It is said that landlords turn them down more so because it is a liability. Having someone who is more likely to have a criminal record, a poor income, children, or an abusive spouse who could show up on the premises is a liability. However, due to the denial this is causing woman (and perhaps their children) to not have affordable, safe, and long-term housing, which eventually leads them to end up homeless. Throughout this study the researchers conducted 2 experiments and 1 survey. This study eventually shows that women who are battered are likely to be discriminated against for housing and that it is a real problem.

The researchers topic is focusing on battered women who have come from a variety of different types of abuse, but all who are trying to find a common goal of safe, affordable housing. They are trying to start a new life, but are having a difficult time since landlords are turning them away. The research question I believe that the researchers are asking is, “Does discrimination affect reported availability of a rental unit?” They are trying to prove whether or not it is a real problem to draw more light on this issue.

The type of data needed to answer this question is to look at the demographic data. The demographic data could help us recognize where most battered women go to find new housing. If they are in a low income area then the landlord probably would not want to have more liability for his residents then he already does. One of the data gathering methods that the researchers used was surveying. They surveyed 31 landlords to determine whether or not they would rent to battered women. They also did a controlled experiment where they had a confederate try to rent from 181 landlords, but had no job and the second experiment the confederate was employed and left a message for 92 landlords. To analyze the data the researchers qualitative analysis to look at the surveys, but also to look at the reports that were filed. They are able to compare the numbers between those landlords who were likely to rent to battered women and those who were not.

The research was researched professionally and ethically. They took a topic that has not been heavily researched before and were able to come to a conclusion about how big of a problem discriminating against battered women is. They used proper methods towards their topic, especially by surveying landlords to gain their opinions. Also by doing the 2 experiments we were able to learn how landlords would act in the situation to gain a true answer. Something that I believe my classmates would find incredibly interesting from this article is some of the responses that landlords gave for saying “no” to renting to battered women. Although a good majority said they would rent to battered women as long as they can pay there were still some who said they would not. Quite a few of the ones who said no, said no because they blamed the battered women for their own situation and that she did something wrong.

Barata, Paula C., and Donna E. Stewart. “Searching for Housing as a Battered Woman: DoesDiscrimination Affect Reported Availability of a Rental Unit?”.” Psychology of Women Quarterly34, no. 1 (March 2010): 43-55.