title: Outcomes of a group intensive peer-support model of case management for supported housing.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Community-based intensive case management may be more intense than necessary and may be socially isolating for persons living in supported housing. This study evaluated a group intensive peer-support (GIPS) model of case management that was implemented in a supported housing program for homeless veterans with a broad range of psychiatric,substance use, and general medical problems. Group meetings led by case managers are the default mode of case management support, and individual intensive case management is provided only when clinically necessary.
  
  
  METHODS
  GIPS was implemented by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development–Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing(HUD-VASH) program at one demonstration site in April 2010. The study used administrative data to compare outcomes, service delivery, and timing of housing acquisition among clients of the demonstration site one year before (N=102) and after (N=167) GIPS implementation and among clients of other HUD-VASH sites across the country before (N=9,659) and after (N=21,318) implementation of GIPS at the demonstration site.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After adjustment for differences in baseline characteristics, the analyses found that GIPS implementation was associated with a greater increase in social integration ratings, a greater number of case manager services, and faster acquisition of Section 8 housing vouchers after program admission compared with outcomes at the same site before GIPS implementation and at the other sites before and after implementation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  GIPS may be a viable service model of supported housing that represents a recovery-oriented approach that can be scaled up to address homelessness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Department of Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System, 950 Campbell Ave., 151D, West Haven, CT 06516, USA. jack.tsai@yale.edu
authors.forename: Jack
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Rosenheck
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019090:Case Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation; D008875:Middle Aged; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009511:New England; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010379:Peer Group; D011638:Public Housing; D012657:Self-Help Groups; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology