Background

Although a growing number of collaborative mental health care models have been developed, targeting specific populations, few studies have utilized such interventions among homeless populations. This quasi-experimental study compared the outcomes of two shelter-based collaborative mental health care models for men experiencing homelessness and mental illness: (1) an integrated multidisciplinary collaborative care (IMCC) model and (2) a less resource intensive shifted outpatient collaborative care (SOCC) model.

Methods

In total 142 participants, 70 from IMCC and 72 from SOCC were enrolled and followed for 12 months. Outcome measures included community functioning, residential stability, and health service use. Multivariate regression models were used to compare study arms with respect to change in community functioning, residential stability, and health service use outcomes over time and to identify baseline demographic, clinical or homelessness variables associated with observed changes in these domains.

Results

We observed improvements in both programs over time on measures of community functioning, residential stability, hospitalizations, emergency department visits and community physician visits, with no significant differences between groups over time on these outcome measures.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that shelter-based collaborative mental health care models may be effective for individuals experiencing homelessness and mental illness. Future studies should seek to confirm these findings and examine the cost effectiveness of collaborative care models for this population.