Description
This research paper focuses on the Homeless Veterans in Southern California. Veterans make up 34% of the population in the US. Three percent of all veterans are women. Eleven percent of the veterans are considered homeless with about 400,000 falling to the problem of homelessness every year (Tsai, Pietrzak & Rosenheck, 2013). As a community of interest, the Homeless Veterans in Southern California comprise of men and women that survived wars such as the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the Afghan and Iraq wars. The ages of the veterans tally with the age and time when they were involved in the wars.
Serving the veterans under the Homeless Veterans in Southern California program involves providing facilities to the war survivors. The facilities and services include the provision of temporary homes. The services include screening the veterans for various health and psychological problems like post-traumatic stress disorder. From a psychology perspective, the aim of the Homeless Veterans in Southern California program is not only to provide homes for the veterans but also take care of their physical and psychological health. Many of the veterans suffer from PTSD because of their horrific experiences while at war. They complain of neglect form the government after the war, and this escalates their problems. Addressing the PTSD concerns among the veterans provides recourse for the veterans.
Problem Formulation
Dealing with homelessness and post-traumatic stress disorder is the major responsibility for the Department of Veterans Affairs in the US. However, the problem has become increasingly difficult for the government to combat over the last three decades due to the wars that the US has engaged in the recent past (Dinnen, Kane & Cook, 2014). The number of veterans has been swelling with the government finding it difficult to accord a descent life for the veterans. Homelessness among veterans fueled the implications of post-traumatic stress disorder, which then means that the government cannot deal exclusively with the problem of homelessness.
A lot of research has in the past focused in the homeless veterans in the US. The research majorly falls into two subcategories. The first category focuses on the socio-demographic characteristics of the homeless veterans. Findings on this research frontier indicate that majority of the homeless veterans are unmarried, unemployed, poor, white males in their late 40’s, and most of them have a history of homelessness and incarceration (Pavao et al., 2013). Such socio-demographic characteristics indicate that the homeless veterans lack a support system. In case they have permanent disabilities, the majority of them became desperate and depressed, which makes it difficult for them to cope with the life after the wars. The same characteristics lead the veterans to the streets to live together with the homelessness.
The second research frontier deals with the psychiatric difficulties that the homeless veterans go through. Research has identified that the homeless veterans often suffer from severe mental illnesses with the three major mental concerns being schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, substance use disorders and the post-traumatic stress disorder that comes as the precursor to the two conditions above (Finley, 2011). The psychiatric conditions are associated with combat experience. Some research studies indicate that combat-related PTSD is not as common as the other two conditions mentioned herein. However, there are also studies that indicate the reason as to why the PTSD diagnoses are low is because there has been limited research focusing on this phenomenon. Consequently, there appears to be a knowledge gap concerning the extent to which the homeless veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
In the article Trauma-Informed Care: A Paradigm Shift Needed for Services with Homeless Veterans, the researchers indicated that exposure to traumatic events is a highly prevalent concern among the homeless veterans. However, this concern is often overlooked. Statistically, PTSD correlates with potentially traumatic events and these include the combat experiences that the veterans experienced at some point in their lives. With an understanding on the prevalence of PTSD, then the development of informed care for the veterans will be possible. To have informed care in the Homeless Veterans in Southern California, it will be important to focus on studying the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder among the veterans.
Problem Definition and Focus of Treatment
Post-traumatic stress disorder is a common problem among the homeless veterans. However, many researchers often overlook the problem. Without evidence from research, the number of veterans suffering from PTSD escalates and homelessness escalates in line with the PTSD. The goal of the Homeless Veterans in Southern California program is not to provide temporary homes for the veterans but to have long-term benefits. It would be important to provide holistic support and care for the veterans, and this encompasses getting information about the prevalence of PTSD among the homeless veterans in the region.
The proposed research seeks to study the prevalence of PTSD among the homeless veterans. The objective is to intervene through psychological support and to assist in bringing down the prevalence levels of PTSD among the homeless veterans along with dealing with the homelessness problem. PTSD is treatable, and consequently, nobody among the veterans should be allowed to suffer from PTSD. It should be achieved within a period of up to 1 month in line with the housing program for the homeless veterans. The determination of this period is the fact that it takes the time to deal with PTSD, and this requires counseling alongside the use of curative medicine. It also includes having the veterans in a support system, for those that are still strong enough to take up a job position, the process also requires providing them with the opportunity to serve. Over time, the patients or the interest group will not only get a home but also heal from the PTSD. They will achieve the American dream by learning how to rebuild their life from the jobs that they get.
Change Indicators
The success factors of change indicators, in this case, include lower levels of homelessness among the veterans. It means that under the program, the organization must be able to provide temporary homes to as many veterans as possible. Secondly, the organization should conduct research through tests and observations to determine the prevalence levels of post-traumatic stress disorder. Based on the findings of the tests and observational research, the program must endeavor to deal comprehensively with the problem of PTSD among the veterans. Comprehensive handling of PTSD means that the cases of PTSD must all be diagnosed and treated through a comprehensive support system involving counseling therapy and medication. The veterans should not result in alcoholism and drug abuse to deal with PTSD. Instead, they should be supported to help them to constructively deal with the problem. The success factor or change indicator in dealing with PTSD is seeing the veterans relying less on alcohol and other substances and being able to participate in community building activities. The last success factor is to see the homeless veterans adjust to the life after the war and engaging in work. It would provide them with earnings that help them to earn and be able to reconstruct their lives. Being able to work and earn a decent income prepares the veterans to continue leading a normal life and live the American dream. Using the observational and testing approaches will be appropriate, valid, and reliable because the tools can be used to determine the number of veterans that benefit from the program over time.
Measuring Change
Over time, the tool of measuring change will be the counting of the number of veterans who benefit from the program. The counting of the number of veterans benefiting from the Homeless Veterans in Southern California program is expected to increase over the period. Additionally, the number of veterans suffering from PTSD should reduce over the same period; hence, indicating positive results for the study and the intervention program. Notably, this will not be a single-subject intervention program or rather a study. Consequently, the benefits can only be measured by quantifying the overall benefits to the target group in focus which in this case includes the Homeless Veterans in Southern California. Considering Southern California to be one of the regions with the highest levels of homeless veterans, the success of the authorities and the program in the region can only be measured based on the number of veterans that the program can assist.
References
Dinnen, S., Kane, V., & Cook, J. M. (2014). Trauma-Informed Care: A Paradigm Shift Needed for Services With Homeless Veterans. Professional case management, 19(4), 161-170.
Finley, E. P. (2011). Fields of combat: Understanding PTSD among veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. JAMA, 306(5), 553.
Magruder, K. M., Frueh, B. C., Knapp, R. G., Johnson, M. R., Vaughan, J. A., Carson, T. C., & Hebert, R. (2004). PTSD symptoms, demographic characteristics, and functional status among veterans treated in VA primary care clinics. Journal of traumatic stress, 17(4), 293-301.
Pavao, J., Turchik, J. A., Hyun, J. K., Karpenko, J., Saweikis, M., McCutcheon, S., & Kimerling, R. (2013). Military sexual trauma among homeless veterans. Journal of general internal medicine, 28(2), 536-541.
Tsai, J., Pietrzak, R. H., & Rosenheck, R. A. (2013). Homeless veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan: Gender differences, combat exposure, and comparisons with previous cohorts of homeless veterans. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 1-6.
