Homeless There Is Conflicting Information

Homeless

There is conflicting information about the phenomenon of homeless veterans. While the characteristics and demographics of homeless veterans appears to reflect that of non-homeless veterans, the populations of the homeless tends to be made up disproportionately of homeless veterans. Additionally, there is one demographic difference between homeless veterans and nonveteran homeless that certainly cannot be discounted, that is that their homelessness is related to their military service or experiences in war zones. While many things may be similar, it is this huge dissimilarity that must be examined and dealt with. For this reason, it is the opinion of this author that the homeless veteran population is larger and is fundamentally different from the nonveteran homeless population and the groups must be treated separately to adequately deal with their respective needs equally.

Analysis

In this short paper, the demographics and the state of homeless veterans will be explored as compared with the population of nonveteran homeless people. The scholarly article that will be the central feature of this essay will analyze the homeless issue in both demographic groups in the place where it seems that the most is going on, that is, in the mind itself. In an article in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, the authors published review work to assess the evidence of cognitive dysfunction among the population of adults who are homeless. They reviewed seventeen publications were identified that described eighteen samples that were mainly from the United States. Although the total number of people studied in the samples were small (some3300), these samples were heterogeneous. Most of the studies indicated a huge burden cognitive dysfunctionality among homeless people. With such dysfunction This therefore undermined the policies of inclusiveness. In the clinical practice, the assessment of homeless adults should include their cognitive state. In this review, both veteran and non-veteran homeless populations (Spence, Stevens & Parks, 2004, 375).

The independent variable was the factor of person's status as a veteran or not and the dependent variable was how this status impacted their cognitive functioning. Significantly, most of the veterans were not cognitively impaired prior to their enlistment in the military. Otherwise, they would not have been taken into the military (they were volunteers), supporting the theory that the military had an impact upon their being homeless (ibid., 377).

Among all of these populations, IQ dropped and mental illnesses such as schizophrenia increased as the study predicted. There is not enough information though to determine whether or not the populations of the homeless were predisposed (just that there was higher population of them) toward an IQ drop or mental illness or whether other events were responsible and the authors called for more research. However, one should expect that if one discharges a homeless person (veteran or not) that has a cognitive problem, then we should not be surprised when they join the homeless population.

(ibid., 377-378).

The candor and reservation about the results would indicate to this author the accuracy of the study's results. In terms of veterans' affairs, this then would explain the prevalence of such problems of PTSD and their prevalence amongst homeless veterans. This has prompted the VA to have outreach programs to at risk populations such as this to keep them out of the ranks of the homeless (Resnick & Rosenheck, 2008, 427).