Characteristics Associated With Unsheltered Status Among Veterans

Scoping review of military veterans involved in the criminal legal system and their health and healthcare: 5-year update and map to the Veterans-Sequential Intercept Model

BACKGROUND

A previous scoping review of legal-involved veterans' health and healthcare (1947-2017) identified studies and their limitations. Given the influx of literature published recently, this study aimed to update the previous review and map articles to the Veterans-Sequential Intercept Model (V-SIM) - a conceptual model used by key partners, including Veterans Health Administration, veteran advocates, criminal justice practitioners, and local governments to identify intercept points in the criminal legal system where resources and programming can be provided. Developing an updated resource of literature is essential to inform current research, discover gaps, and highlight areas for future research.

METHODS

A systematic search of 5 databases identified articles related to legal-involved veterans' health and healthcare published between December 2017 through December 2022. The first and senior authors conducted abstract reviews, full-text reviews, and data extraction of study characteristics. Finally, each article was sorted by the various intercept points from the V-SIM.

RESULTS

Of 903 potentially relevant articles, 107 peer-reviewed publications were included in this review, most related to mental health (66/107, 62%) and used an observational quantitative study design (95/107, 89%). Although most articles did not explicitly use the V-SIM to guide data collection, analyses, or interpretation, all could be mapped to this conceptual model. Half of the articles (54/107, 50%) collected data from intercept 5 (Community Corrections and Support Intercept) of the V-SIM. No articles gathered data from intercepts 0 (Community and Emergency Services Intercept), 1 (Law Enforcement Intercept), or 2 (Initial Detention and Court Hearings Intercept).

CONCLUSIONS

There were 107 articles published in the last five years compared to 190 articles published in 70 years covered in the last review, illustrating the growing interest in legal-involved veterans. The V-SIM is widely used by front-line providers and clinical leadership, but not by researchers to guide their work. By clearly tying their research to the V-SIM, researchers could generate results to help guide policy and practice at specific intercept points. Despite the large number of publications, research on prevention and early intervention for legal-involved veterans is lacking, indicating areas of great need for future studies.

Growing Concern About Unsheltered Homelessness Among Veterans: Clinical Characteristics and Engagement in Health Care Services

OBJECTIVES

Veteran homelessness has declined in the past decade, but the proportion of unsheltered homeless veterans has increased. We identified characteristics of unsheltered homelessness in a large contemporary veteran cohort and examined outpatient and inpatient encounters before and after intake to US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) homeless programs.

METHODS

National data from the Homeless Operations Management Evaluation System (HOMES) database and the Corporate Data Warehouse were analyzed on 191 204 veterans experiencing housing instability from January 2018 through December 2021. We used hierarchical multivariate logistic regressions to model associations between sheltered status and veteran correlates. Repeated-measures analysis of variance assessed changes in care utilization after intake in homeless programs.

RESULTS

Age <50 years (odds ratio [OR] = 1.3; 95% CI, 1.2-1.4), Hispanic ethnicity (OR = 1.2; 95% CI, 1.1-1.3), some college education (OR = 1.1; 95% CI, 1.0-1.1), and a bachelor's degree (OR = 1.2; 95% CI, 1.1-1.2) were associated with veteran unsheltered homelessness. Unsheltered veterans were more likely to have a VA service-connected disability (OR = 1.4; 95% CI, 1.4-1.5), military sexual trauma (OR = 1.1; 95% CI, 1.0-1.1), and/or combat exposure (OR = 1.1; 95% CI, 1.0-1.1). Unsheltered and sheltered homeless veterans had an increase in outpatient encounters and a decrease in inpatient care after intake to the VA homeless program.

CONCLUSIONS

Contemporary unsheltered homeless veterans are younger and Hispanic with some college education. Innovative public health approaches that better engage and reduce barriers to entry need to be tested for a diverse unsheltered homeless population.

Association of homelessness and diet on the gut microbiome: a United States-Veteran Microbiome Project (US-VMP) study

Military veterans account for 8% of homeless individuals living in the United States. To highlight associations between history of homelessness and the gut microbiome, we compared the gut microbiome of veterans who reported having a previous experience of homelessness to those from individuals who reported never having experienced a period of homelessness. Moreover, we examined the impact of the cumulative exposure of prior and current homelessness to understand possible associations between these experiences and the gut microbiome. Microbiome samples underwent genomic sequencing and were analyzed based on alpha diversity, beta diversity, and taxonomic differences. Additionally, demographic information, dietary data, and mental health history were collected. A lifetime history of homelessness was found to be associated with alcohol use disorder, substance use disorder, and healthy eating index compared to those without such a history. In terms of differences in gut microbiota, beta diversity was significantly different between veterans who had experienced homelessness and veterans who had never been homeless (P = 0.047, weighted UniFrac), while alpha diversity was similar. The microbial community differences were, in part, driven by a lower relative abundance of Akkermansia in veterans who had experienced homelessness (mean; range [in percentages], 1.07; 0-33.9) compared to veterans who had never been homeless (2.02; 0-36.8) (P = 0.014, ancom-bc2). Additional research is required to facilitate understanding regarding the complex associations between homelessness, the gut microbiome, and mental and physical health conditions, with a focus on increasing understanding regarding the longitudinal impact of housing instability throughout the lifespan.IMPORTANCEAlthough there are known stressors related to homelessness as well as chronic health conditions experienced by those without stable housing, there has been limited work evaluating the associations between microbial community composition and homelessness. We analyzed, for the first time, bacterial gut microbiome associations among those with experiences of homelessness on alpha diversity, beta diversity, and taxonomic differences. Additionally, we characterized the influences of diet, demographic characteristics, military service history, and mental health conditions on the microbiome of veterans with and without any lifetime history of homelessness. Future longitudinal research to evaluate the complex relationships between homelessness, the gut microbiome, and mental health outcomes is recommended. Ultimately, differences in the gut microbiome of individuals experiencing and not experiencing homelessness could assist in identification of treatment targets to improve health outcomes.

Quality of Depression Care for Veterans Affairs Primary Care Patients with Experiences of Homelessness

BACKGROUND

Persons who experience homelessness (PEH) have high rates of depression and incur challenges accessing high-quality health care. Some Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities offer homeless-tailored primary care clinics, although such tailoring is not required, within or outside VA. Whether services tailoring enhances care for depression is unstudied.

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether PEH in homeless-tailored primary care settings receive higher quality of depression care, compared to PEH in usual VA primary care.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study of depression treatment among a regional cohort of VA primary care patients (2016-2019).

PARTICIPANTS

PEH diagnosed or treated for a depressive disorder.

MAIN MEASURES

The quality measures were timely follow-up care (3 + completed visits with a primary care or mental health specialist provider, or 3 + psychotherapy sessions) within 84 days of a positive PHQ-2 screen result, timely follow-up care within 180 days, and minimally appropriate treatment (4 + mental health visits, 3 + psychotherapy visits, 60 + days antidepressant) within 365 days. We applied multivariable mixed-effect logistic regressions to model differences in care quality for PEH in homeless-tailored versus usual primary care settings.

KEY RESULTS

Thirteen percent of PEH with depressive disorders received homeless-tailored primary care (n = 374), compared to usual VA primary care (n = 2469). Tailored clinics served more PEH who were Black, who were non-married, and who had low income, serious mental illness, and substance use disorders. Among all PEH, 48% received timely follow-up care within 84 days of depression screening, 67% within 180 days, and 83% received minimally appropriate treatment. Quality metric attainment was higher for PEH in homeless-tailored clinics, compared to PEH in usual VA primary care: follow-up within 84 days (63% versus 46%; adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.61, p = .001), follow-up within 180 days (78% versus 66%; AOR = 1.51, p = .003), and minimally appropriate treatment (89% versus 82%; AOR = 1.58, p = .004).

CONCLUSIONS

Homeless-tailored primary care approaches may improve depression care for PEH.

Does Street Outreach Engage Its Intended Target Population? Clinical Experience in the Veteran's Health Administration Homeless Service Programs

OBJECTIVE

Clinical street outreach programs serve people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, who have been shown to have greater medical and psychiatric comorbidities, and increased social and financial challenges. However, outreach programs may struggle in practice to engage the most vulnerable of these individuals.

METHODS

Data from the Veterans Health Administration's (VHA's) Homeless Operations Management System (HOMES) from 2018 to 2019 (N = 101,998) were used to compare sociodemographic, clinical, and financial characteristics of literally homeless veterans contacted through street outreach to those who were self-referred or clinic-referred.

RESULTS

Veterans engaged through street outreach reported substantially more days of unsheltered homelessness in the past month (mean (M) = 11.18 days, s.d.=13.8) than the clinic-referred group (M = 6.75 days, s.d.=11.1), and were more likely to have spent the past 30 days unsheltered (RR = 2.23). There were notably few other differences between the groups.

CONCLUSION

Despite epidemiologic evidence in the literature showing higher medical, psychiatric, and social and financial vulnerabilities among unsheltered homeless individuals, our street outreach group was not found to be any worse off on such variables than the clinic-referred or self-referred groups, other than increased time unsheltered. Outreach workers seem to engage more unsheltered individuals, but do not necessarily engage those with such severe vulnerabilities. Dedicated outreach program funding, training, and support are needed to support street outreach to those with the most severe problems.