PMID: 8943989Dec 1, 1996Paper

Homing in on the homeless: assessing the physical health of homeless adults in Los Angeles County using an original method to obtain physical examination data in a survey

Health Services Research
L C KleinmanL Gelberg

Abstract

Public policy that decreases the finding for social services may combine with the ascendancy of corporate managed care to increase the health care deficit. Assessing the health impact of these policy changes on various populations is a fundamental challenge for health services research. Disadvantaged populations, such as the homeless, are likely to be affected disproportionately. Research quality data on the physical health of such populations are difficult and expensive to obtain. In particular, physical examination data have not been available and self-reports are insufficient. Our objective: to develop and utilize a structured physical exam system enabling lay survey researchers to report reliably physical findings related to six tracer conditions in a disadvantaged population. A field survey of homeless adults in Los Angeles County, California. Respondents were 363 homeless adults representing a subsample of a probability sample of the county's homeless adult population. We integrated existing measures with expert clinical opinion and original means of data collection into a structured physical exam enabling lay interviewers to identify the prevalence of vision problems, significant skin disorders, peripheral vascular disea...Continue Reading

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