Service Use in Supported Housing: Veterans’ Interests, Supports, or Needs

• In Event: 3157 - Neglected Topics in Mental Health Research

Abstract

Prior research on utilization of health services has identified the significance of both treatment needs and preferences, but has not tested their relative importance nor the extent to which their role varies between different types of health services or in relation to available supports. In health care systems that offer services in response to consumer demand, supports to encourage demand, and seek to provide holistic health care, investigation of the relative role of need, preference, and support is critical. This study tests predictors of service use among dually diagnosed Veterans living in VA-funded supported housing after having been homeless and while participating in a 9-12 month two-city randomized trial of peer support. It distinguishes predictors of use of substance abuse services, mental health services, primary care services, and supported housing services as recorded in VA administrative data. Findings indicate that treatment preferences were a more consistent influence on service utilization than health care needs, that services for one health problem could be used in response to different health needs, and that level of social support shapes service usage. Use of housing services were most fully explained by the multivariate model. Conclusions highlight the importance of service system organization and interactions between use of services for mental health, substance abuse, physical illness, and housing.

Authors

• Russell K. Schutt, University of Massachusetts-Boston

• Mark Schultz, Edith Nourse Rogers VA Medical Center

• Marsha Ellison, University of Massachusetts

• Matthew J. Chinman, RAND Corporation

• Chantele E. MitchellMiland, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System

• Sharon McCarthy, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare system