AN EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF RESIDENTIAL AND NONRESIDENTIAL TREATMENT FOR DUALLY DIAGNOSED HOMELESS ADULTS

Homeless adults with both a serious mental illness and substance depen dence (N = 276) were randomly assigned to: (1) a social model resident ial program providing integrated mental health and substance abuse tre atment; (2) a community-based nonresidential program using the same so cial model approach; or (3) a control group receiving no intervention but free to access other community services. Interventions were design ed to provide 3 months of intensive treatment, followed by 3 months of nonresidential maintenance. Subjects completed baseline interviews pr ior to randomization and reinterviews 3, 6, and 9 months later. Result s showed that, while substance use, mental health, and housing outcome s improved from baseline, subjects assigned to treatment conditions di ffered little from control subjects. Examination of the relationship b etween length of treatment exposure and outcomes suggested that reside ntial treatment had positive effects on outcomes at 3 months, but that these effects were eroded by 6 months.