Closing Service System Gaps for Homeless Clients with a Dual Diagnosis: Integrated Teams and Interagency Cooperation
Robert A. Rosenheck, Sandra G. Resnick and Joseph P. Morrissey
June 2003
There is great concern about fragmentation of mental health service delivery, especially for dually diagnosed homeless people, and apprehension that such fragmentation adversely affects service access and outcomes. This study first seeks to articulate two alternative approaches to the integration of psychiatric and substance abuse services, one involving an integrated team model and the other a collaborative relationship between agencies. It then applies this conceptualization to a sample of dually diagnosed homeless people who participated in the ACCESS demonstration. Longitudinal outcome data were obtained through interviews at baseline, 3 months, and 12 months with homeless clients with a dual diagnosis (N = 1074) who received ACT-like case management services through the ACCESS demonstration. A survey of ACCESS case managers was conducted to obtain information on: (i) the proportion of clients who received substance abuse services directly from ACCESS case management teams, and the proportion who received services from other agencies; and (ii) the perceived quality of the relationship (i.e. communication, cooperation and trust) between providers--both within the same teams and between agencies. At 12 months, receipt of a higher proportion of services from agencies other than the ACCESS team was associated with fewer days homeless, and greater reduction of psychiatric symptoms, contradicting the hypothesis that integrated team care is more effective than interagency collaborations. Data from a multi-site outcome study demonstrated suggestive associations between perceptions of communication, cooperation and measures of clinical service use. However, the proportion of clients treated entirely within a single team was associated with poorer housing and psychiatric outcomes. This study suggests that fragmentation of services for dually diagnosed clients may be reduced by improving the interactions within and between agencies providing these services. While primary emphasis has been placed on developing integrated teams, interagency approaches should not be prematurely excluded. Research on approaches to reducing system fragmentation have focused on either global efforts to integrate numerous agencies in a community or highly focused efforts to develop specialized teams. Future research should also focus on the possibility of fostering constructive relationships between selected pairs or subsets of agencies. Research in this area will also benefit from the further development measures of team integration and of both intra-team and inter-agency communication, collaboration, and trust.
