Biomedical subjects
W Abdul-Hamid
Publications and source records attributed to W Abdul-Hamid.
The elderly homeless men in Bloomsbury hostels: their needs for services.
OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study are: (1) to assess the feasibility and usefulness of using the Needs Schedule on older homeless individuals; (2) to measure the needs of the elderly homeless individual for mental health services and whether these needs could be met by the same services that cater for younger individuals. DESIGN AND SETTING: This article analyses the needs of a subsample of 37 elderly residents in four inner London hostels for homeless people. Their needs were compared with those of 64 younger residents within the same hostels. RESULTS: The data related to demographic characteristics and health problems showed that the elderly homeless were physically frail and socially isolated. This group demonstrated more need for physical health services than the younger sample. However, the needs assessment method used in this study failed to show significant differences between the needs of these elderly and those of the younger residents. CONCLUSIONS: The article discusses ways of improving the assessment of needs for services in the elderly homeless and the way forward in meeting the needs of this disadvantaged group.
Homelessness, mental illness and the law.
One major difficulty that faces both researchers and practitioners who work with the homeless is the lack of definitions and frameworks that assist better understanding of such people's problems and society's response to them. This article reviews the legislation dealing with homeless people's social, civil and legal problems. We tried to give this legislation's historic and social background, including a section on psychiatric disorders in this group because of their relevance to current debate on homeless offenders. We then reviewed the legislation relevant to homeless people in general and the homeless mentally ill in particular, including the recently introduced court diversion schemes.
The homeless.
The medical literature on homeless people tends to concentrate on their biographic characteristics or clinical problems without enough attention being given to the social and environmental contexts which they have to survive. This article summarises the literature on the role of social factors in the causation and outcome of health problems of the homeless and emphasises the importance of addressing the social context in effecting intervention. Services that deal with the social needs of the homeless will be more successful in meeting their needs and reducing their distress.