Exploring factors related to supportive housing tenure and stability for people with serious mental illness

Housing and loneliness among individuals with serious mental illnesses

BACKGROUND

People with serious mental illnesses (SMI) have higher levels of loneliness than the general population. Furthermore, people with SMI tend to be less satisfied with their housing and tend to move more frequently.

AIM

This study aims to examine relationships between housing variables (whom they live with, duration of residence, and satisfaction) and loneliness among individuals with SMI.

METHODS

Data were collected from 188 adults with SMI in greater Philadelphia area. Classification and Regression Trees (CART) were used to examine whether whom they live with, duration of residence, and housing satisfaction were associated with loneliness.

RESULTS

Housing satisfaction was found to be the most prominent predictor of loneliness. Those who were unsatisfied with their overall housing conditions always had the highest level of loneliness, regardless of other factors. Even if they were satisfied with their housing conditions, their loneliness was higher if they had just moved to the new residence. Participants had lower loneliness the longer they lived in a residence and had the lowest loneliness levels after about three years.

CONCLUSION

Housing is associated with loneliness among people with SMI. Psychiatric service providers should increase support to factors contributing to housing satisfaction and duration of residence, including active engagement in the community.

Prosocial Organizing and the Distance Between Core and Community Work

Research on prosocial organising has made great strides in understanding how organisations foster durable social change through core work directly targeting specific beneficiaries (e.g. work integration), and also through community work to obtain the cooperation of key stakeholders. Yet, extant research tends to focus on community work that is closely related – or proximal – to core work and is thus weakly equipped to explain how seemingly unrelated, distal community work unfolds. To address this puzzle, we study an Italian work integration social enterprise that engaged in anti-Mafia work to support its core work of reintegrating people with mental health issues. We unveiled the process whereby it came to engage in this distal community work, how this work facilitated the destigmatisation of the beneficiaries and, ultimately, their reintegration in the community. We contribute to the literature on prosocial organising by providing a more complex and nuanced view of the relationship between core and community work, as well as how to manage stigma.