Psychosocial preparedness among homeless people: A study from an urban rehabilitation center in South India

BACKGROUND: Homeless people have difficulties in their basic necessities such as food, clothing, and shelter and they are prone to physical abuse and assault. Homeless mentally ill persons are found to have unhealed injuries and they lack help-seeking behavior, which leads to further deterioration of physical and mental health. In view of the alarming increase in this marginalized population, there is a need to understand their psychosocial needs and enhance their well-being and quality of life. The study aims to understand the psychosocial preparedness of homeless people admitted to a relief and rehabilitation center in Bengaluru. METHODS: The study followed a descriptive research design with 90 participants (10% of total inmates), 45 participants each falling under the categories of homeless persons with mental illness (HMI) and homeless persons without mental illness (NMI), selected using a simple random sampling method. A semi-structured interview schedule was used for data collection. Statistics procedures used frequency distribution, mean, median, and standard deviations and inferential statistics such as the Chi-square test. RESULTS: The results of the study show that the majority of the respondents (56% in HMI and 73% in NMI) were male, 62% in HMI and 60% in NMI were literate, 60% in HMI and 86.66% in NMI were employed before institutionalization, 73% in HMI and 69% in NMI belonged to nuclear family. The study also shows that the majority of the HMI (56%) had no plans to start work; however, the majority of the NMI (49%) had plans to start work. Mean scores indicate persons with mental illness have more psychosocial preparedness than persons without mental illness. DISCUSSION: The results showed that there was no significant difference between the mean level of psychosocial preparedness among persons with mental illness and persons without mental illness.