The effects of occupational therapy intervention on homeless adults living in homecare house

Abstract

Community integration is a vital target for people who are homeless. The engagement of meaningful activity and occupation can be supported that the transitioning from homelessness to being housed. The aim of this study was to use the model of human occupation as a framework to examine the factors associated with community integration and to determine if a life skills improve program (cope with stress, engaging occupation, occupational balance, employment, cognition and communication skills, creating target) was support and applicable to homeless adults. 25 volunteer homeless male (controls n = 11) were interviewed with Canada Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) and the Occupational Circumstances Assessment Interview and Rating Scale (OCAIRS) version 4.0 to understand self perceived occupational circumstances and performance. Twelve male residents participated to eight group sessions in four weeks. 12 of the 14 participants completed the program and 8 of them found a new job. A significant intergroup difference was observed between initial COPM and OCAIRS scores. Those homeless adults in the intervention program showed a more significant improvement than the control group (p < .001). Conclusion: Homeless individuals as a disadvantages group are one of the important practice areas of occupational therapy. This research indicates that the effectiveness of life skills programs for homeless individuals. It is needed that evidence based researches about occupational therapy intervention in homeless individuals with more cases.