Research Paper on Homelessness in the State of Hawaii

Introduction

Homelessness is associated with a high number of mental disorders in underprivileged communities. According to the Institute for Human Services, over fifty percent of homelessness people in Honolulu has a mental illness. Most of them are in severe conditions of mental illness that they do not recognize the strange things that they do each day. The most common mental disorders among these homeless people include depression, dementia, anxiety disorder, and schizophrenia. Depression is a mood disorder which affects how a person feels and think. On the other hand, dementia is a mental disorder which causes a person to forget easily as a result of memory declination. Schizophrenia and anxiety disorder are also mental illness which affects an individual's thought and emotion which is translated to his/her behavioral change. In this project, housing should first be provided to the homeless in Hawaii as the first step of addressing mental illness in the region. The housing should then be accompanied by the establishment of mental asylums in Hawaii which will intervene in the issue of mental illness among the homeless. In addition to the bibliography, this work has used data from the Hawaii Department of health. The statistics regarding the number of people with mental illness in Honolulu was retrieved from the health records of the Hawaii Department of health. There is a tremendous need for the government, community and other non-governmental organizations to establish housing and mental hospitals in the State of Hawaii. As the number of mental illness cases in Hawaii keeps on rising, the need for permanent intervention strategies deepens throughout the State of Hawaii.

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Annotated Bibliography

Glendening and Shin's study aimed to determine if access to housing subsidies reduces housing instability. The study used data from an experiment done on families which were provided with housing subsidies, service interventions for those who experience homelessness as well as analysis of data from Family Options Study. The major findings of the study show that access to housing subsidies reduces housing instability. Glendening and Shin show that access to housing subsidies result in a significant impact to the homelessness. According to their study, many of the Homeless had mental disorders such as bipolar disorders, behavioral disorders among much other mental illnesses. Therefore, providing them with housing subsidies reduces the chances of others to contact some of these forms of mental disorders. Glendening and Shin also found out that some of the people who were homeless had no source of income. Therefore, it was difficult for them to get housing from the little they got. Moreover, many of them had suffered housing instability in their younger age a factor that predicted their future experiences.

In this work, Glendening and Shin's study is used to provide insights into the statement of the problem as well as the intervention that should be done. The research gives clear and coherent points regarding homelessness and mental illness. Therefore, the study will be used to retrieve important and reliable information regarding the main focus of the entire work.

Kataoka, S. H., Ijadi-Maghsoodi, R., Figueroa, C., Castillo, E. G., Bromley, E., Patel, H., & Wells, K. B. (2018). Stakeholder perspectives on the social determinants of mental health in community coalitions. Ethnicity & disease, 28(Supp), 389-396.

This study aims to determine the cause of homelessness and the possible intervention to curb the issue of mental illness. According to the research, homelessness is caused by lack of employment, poor education as well insecurity. The factors also play a vital role in an individual's mental state. Many of the people who suffer from violence and trauma as well as the lack of a source of income suffer from a form of mental disorder. The findings of this study show that addressing basic needs in homelessness communities will significantly reduce cases of mental disorders. According to the study, providing the homeless with decent housing and safety will reduce mental disorders significantly in the region. The reduction of mental illness will be as a result of feeling safe without anything to worry about regarding shelter.

The study of Kataoka et al. will be used in this study as a source of data and information regarding the possible solution to homelessness as well as reduction of mental illness among underprivileged localities. In this case, Kataoka et al. will provide what other regions are suggesting and doing regarding the issue of mental illness among homeless communities.

Corrigan, P., Pickett, S., Kraus, D., Burks, R., & Schmidt, A. (2015). Community-based participatory research in examining the health care needs of African Americans who are homeless with mental illness. Journal of health care for the poor and underserved, 26(1), 119.

This study aims to determine what the homeless need to live a life as other people. The authors of the research show that mental illness is among many diseases that the homelessness suffers. In their findings, it is seen that hardship and other challenges in homeless neighborhoods play a vital role in their health disorders. Therefore, there is a need for government and other stakeholders to intervene through the provision of sufficient housing, employment and social amenities such as hospitals and schools in these regions. According to the research, providing housing to the homeless is accompanied by a reduction in such diseases as diabetes, heart diseases and mental illness in these neighborhoods. Moreover, providing them with shelter or housing subsidies reduces the rate of violence significantly. It is clear that violence and trauma can lead to mental disorders. Therefore, a reduction in violence will significantly impact the number of mental disorders in homeless communities.

Information for the research of Corrigan et al. will be used as a reference point of the factors that lead to mental illness among people who are homeless. Similarly, the possible measures to be done to reduce housing instability will be given based on the comparison from the findings of Corrigan et al., study. The study will provide directions for what is expected of this research to ensure the work does not divert from the relevant information regarding mental illness in Hawaii homeless individuals and families.

Methodology

Description of Data Based on Needs-Assessment

Applying qualitative data in a research project provides a complete comprehension of the barriers and issues facing the health of a community and could also assist in informing the planning of interventions and programs that promote health. Even though there are several instances in research articles which use quantitative data in program planning, few kinds of literature explicitly exhibit the use of qualitative data, like a collection of data through windshield tours, in-depth interviews, focus groups, or literature analysis in program planning and need assessment. Applying qualitative needs assessment methods instead of purely informed data is essential to understanding several communities' needs and issues. Although figures are useful in showing the statistics of community efforts, progress, and comparisons, they cannot describe the relationships, feelings, opinions, or motives of the affected group. This part of the project explains why and how qualitative data collection method is used in needs assessment and how they help in community planning.

How to Carry Out the Needs Assessment

In needs assessment and program planning, choosing to apply qualitative methods over quantitative is partially inclined by the type of data the project requires, the participants and programs context. For instance, in this project which attempts to address the health issue of homelessness in the Hawaiian population, qualitative data is applied to assess the conditions which contribute to the health issue, whereas quantitative data would be useful if the project wanted to determine the distribution and prevalence of the problem.

This project focuses on the application of qualitative strategies to give information basing on data collected by the state of Hawaii from the citizens own perspective on the issue of homelessness and from articles reporting research on the same problem by trying to hold on to the phenomena in a comprehensive manner. Data was particularly collected from people between ages twenty-five to sixty-five. These data were tabulated in a range of ten. Therefore, from twenty-five to sixty-five there were four variable names which included Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. The variables represented age 25-35, 36-45, 46-55 and 56-65 respectively. The associated information collected from the demographics stated above was the reason as to why they were homeless. Moreover, experiments were conducted to test their cognitive ability as well as behavior. The experiment was done to ensure there is first-hand information regarding their mental states. Information retrieved from the data set was used to arrive at the findings as well as answer the research question of this study.

Collecting data from the State of Hawaii (qualitative approach) is preferred to quantitative approaches since qualitative methods give way for a detailed and in-depth understanding of the beliefs and experiences of members of a community (Brief, 2012). While quantitative data can inform research on how many people are homeless in Hawaii, it cannot tell why or what leads to their homelessness. Hence qualitative data is applied to answer the why and how questions effectively and provides more insight into the issue.

Qualitative Data Collection Used for Needs Assessment

Collection of qualitative data is through strategies such as conducting focus groups, one-on-one interviews, observations, and documented works. It is more of an exploratory approach since it is applied in cases where we do not know how to describe the problems, the expectations, or fail to understand how and why people are affected by a health issue such as homelessness. Collecting and analyzing qualitative data needs commitment, expertise, resources, and time on behalf of all the stages in the project. Collection of data from diverse archived sources might at times result in different outcomes (WHO, 2001). For instance, as found in this research, data from surveys can imply that the Hawaiians are equipped with reliable and adequate health services whereas interviews might show that those services are insufficient. Typically, this challenge provides a...