Weekly group sessions are the primary component of both CET and HOPES—the interventions we are comparing in Project SUCCESS. Both Cognitive Enhancement Therapy and Helping Ourselves Perceive & Experience Success leverage the power of social connection to help participants improve social skills and community functioning. Does that sound good to you? In this week’s post, I’ll consider those whose answer is “no.”
In an earlier post, I introduced the 1990s Boston McKinney Project and reviewed some of what we learned about social connection from that comparison of group and individual housing. We also learned a lot about service preferences.
In the McKinney Project, we asked the homeless persons who had consented to participate whether they would prefer to live with others or in an independent apartment. We also asked two experienced clinicians, separately, which type of housing they would recommend for each participant. We asked these questions before the participants were randomly assigned to group homes or independent apartments.
Among the participants, only 13 percent said they would prefer to live in a group home. Of the two clinicians, one recommended group living for 70 percent and the other recommended group living for 91 percent. That’s a whooping discrepancy! Those diagnosed with serious mental illness (not to mention other health challenges) do not necessarily prefer the services clinicians recommend.
After three decades during which the consumer empowerment movement has convinced more service providers about the value of independent living, I’m sure that the discrepancy between what housing type clinicians would recommend and what service consumers want has lessened. Still, the Project SUCCESS team believes in the value of social connection, some folks referred to the project decide not to participate because it involves participating in a group.
Should we just leave it at that? Another thing we learned in the McKinney Project was that preferences can change with experience. Preference for living with a group more than doubled among those who began living in a group home. Living in a group home also reduced the risk of further days homeless, compared to those living in an independent apartment.
The takeaway message? Give groups a chance!
Russ
Russell K. Schutt, PhD
Dual Principal Investigator
Project SUCCESS
More about the Boston McKinney Project.
More about Project SUCCESS.