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.