How do homeless adults change their lives after completing an intensive job-skills program? A prospective study

GRAY et al

Bibliographic Data

ID11042322
AuthorsHeather M Gray (0000-0001-8886-5989, Division on Addiction; Cambridge Health Alliance / Harvard Medical School, corresponding author), Susan E Nelson (0000-0001-7967-4910, Cambridge Health Alliance), Sarah E Nelson (Division on Addiction; Cambridge Health Alliance / Harvard Medical School), Howard J Shaffer (0000-0001-7003-5362, Division on Addiction; Cambridge Health Alliance / Harvard Medical School), Patricia Stebbins (St. Francis House; Boston), Andrea Ryan Farina (St. Francis House; Boston)
Year2017
Volume45
Issue7
Pages888-905
Publication date2017-09-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Community Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0090-4392 • E-ISSN: 1520-6629
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/jcop.21900
PMID29085159
OpenAlexW2743210108
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited16

Among people experiencing homelessness, difficulty securing housing is often compounded by concurrent challenges including unemployment, chronic illness, criminal justice involvement, and victimization. The Moving Ahead Program (MAP) is a vocational rehabilitation program that seeks to help adults facing these challenges to secure competitive employment. We prospectively studied how MAP graduates (N = 97) changed from the beginning of MAP to about six months after graduation. We observed a variety of positive outcomes not just in employment and housing but also in health, substance use, and criminal justice involvement. However, these gains were not universal; for instance, participants were less likely to report positive outcomes at follow-up if they started MAP with a serious mental illness, made relatively small gains in work skills, or did not seek mental health treatment during the six months after they completed MAP. These findings might encourage program staff to devote additional resources toward supporting at-risk students

Criminal justice · Criminology · Economic growth · Economic Justice · Graduation (instrument) · Medical education · Mental health · Mental illness · Pedagogy · Political science · Psychiatry · Supported employment · Unemployment · Vocational education · Work (physics) · Employment and Welfare Studies · Homelessness and Social Issues · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Rehabilitation · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

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