A SURVEY OF PSYCHOSOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMELESS FAMILIES

The objective of this study was to identify the psychosocial character istics of homeless families. The sample included 50 children of 2-15 y ears from 19 families living in a hostel for the homeless. Mothers com pleted a semi-structured interview, the General Health Questionnaire a nd the Child Behaviour Checklist within one week after their admission to the hostel. The majority of families (14 or 74%) had become homele ss because of domestic violence. Thirteen mothers (68%) reported ''pro blems with their nerves'' during the previous month, while 9 (47%) had GHQ scores indicative of psychiatric caseness. Mothers expressed conc erns about the behaviour of 25 (50%) children, CBCL scores were within the clinical (psychiatric) range for 31 children (62%), while 33 subj ects (73%) had poor social functioning. Seventeen families (90%) had a t least one child with ''clinical'' CBCL scores. A significant associa tion was found between child and maternal levels of social dysfunction . Only three mothers and one child were receiving mental health treatm ent. The reported high rates of psychosocial morbidity indicate the ne ed for further investigation in different types of hostels, and the de velopment of accessible health, educational and social services for ho meless children and their parents.