Name of Project: Drug Use and Homeless Women’s
Use of Health Services
Principal Investigator: Douglas Longshore, Ph.D
Project Director: Cheryl Teruya, Ph.D.
Funding Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
(NIDA)
Funding Period: September 2001-August 2004
Scope of Project: Drug use and physical health
problems are quite common among the homeless and their general
health-care needs often go unmet. This study employs secondary
data to analyze the association between drug use and use of general
health care (inpatient, ambulatory, and preventive) in a community-based
probability sample of 974 homeless women in Los Angeles County.
We will identify factors that appear to impede or facilitate the
use of general health care among homeless women with lifetime
drug abuse/ dependence. Because homeless women may be more likely
to seek care for their physical health problems than their drug
abuse problems, general health care providers could potentially
serve as gateways to the formal substance abuse treatment system.
This study will test hypotheses regarding a wide range of predisposing
and enabling factors (such as case management, health insurance,
and access to public benefits) potentially associated with access
to general health services by homeless women with drug problems.
By documenting the nature and extent of health problems affecting
drug-using homeless women, their use of general health services,
and the extent to which their need for care goes unmet, this study
will inform drug treatment providers on the value and content
of screening/assessment procedures they might employ and the types
of general health services for which more effective linkage is
needed.
For more information, contact Douglas
Longshore.
Last updated - 08/07/2003
Last reviewed 08/4/2003