title: Trauma experience among homeless female veterans: correlates and impact on housing, clinical, and psychosocial outcomes.
abstract: This study examined lifetime exposure to traumatic events as reported by 581 homeless female veterans enrolled in a Homeless Women Veterans Program across 11 sites to characterize the types of trauma they experienced; their correlation with baseline characteristics; and their association with housing, clinical outcomes, and psychosocial functioning over a 1-year treatment period. Almost all participants endorsed multiple types and episodes of traumatic events. Among the most common were having someone close experience a serious or life-threatening illness (82%) and rape (67%). Exploratory factor analysis revealed 6 potential trauma categories: being robbed, experiencing accident or disasters, illness or death of others, combat, sexual assault, and physical assault. At baseline, trauma from sexual assault was associated with more days homeless (β = .18, p < .001), trauma from accidents or disasters was associated with poorer physical health (β = -.23, p < .001), and trauma from being robbed was related to greater use of drugs (β = .22, p < .001). Trauma reported at baseline, however, was not predictive of 1-year outcomes, suggesting type and frequency of trauma does not negatively affect the housing gains homeless women veterans can achieve through homeless services.
authors.affiliation: Veterans Affairs New England Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, West Haven, Connecticut, USA. Jack.Tsai@yale.edu
authors.forename: Jack
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Rosenheck
authors.forename: Suzanne E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Decker
authors.forename: Rani A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Desai
authors.forename: Ilan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Harpaz-Rotem
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons / Q000523:psychology*; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008875:Middle Aged; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*