TY - JOUR
T1 - Conceptualizing community
T2 - A comparison of neighborhood characteristics of supportive housing for persons with psychiatric and developmental disabilities
AU - Irene Wong, Yin Ling
AU - Stanhope, Victoria
N1 - Funding Information:
Both authors made equal contributions to this paper. This work was supported by NIMH grant R24 MH63220 and NIDDR grant H133B031109. The authors would like to thank Dutch Klugman, Robert Spencer, and Raj Phatak at the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Mental Retardation for their assistance. We would like to thank Emily Kahoe, Nick Klein, Vicky Tam, & Eugene Brusilovskiy for their GIS support. We would also like to thank Deborah Padgett for her comments on the manuscript.
PY - 2009/4
Y1 - 2009/4
N2 - Housing and services for persons with developmental disabilities (DD) have been shaped by the normalization approach, a commitment to full integration within the general community. In contrast, housing and services for persons with psychiatric disabilities (PD) have had various and sometimes conflicting goals, including provision of custodial care, promotion of therapeutic community, and community integration. This cross-field study compares the neighborhood characteristics of publicly-funded housing for the PD and DD populations in a metropolitan community. The aim of the study was to examine whether the contrasting housing approaches are reflected at an ecological level and to consider how these findings relate to the goal of community integration for people with PD and DD. Administrative databases provided residential addresses of 1932 residents with PD living in 297 locations and 1716 residents with DD living in 749 locations in the city of Philadelphia. The 2000 U.S. Census and city's police department database provided information on neighborhood characteristics. Geographic information system (GIS) methodology generated maps displaying the distribution of housing locations in relation to spatial dispersion, distress, stability, safety, and race/ethnic diversity. Statistical analyses compared neighborhood characteristics of the DD and PD populations. Findings indicated that the DD population in supportive housing was more spatially dispersed, and lived in less distressed, less unstable, more secure, but equally racially/ethnically diverse neighborhoods when compared to the PD population in supportive housing. Greater geographic dispersal among persons with DD may be the result of more emphasis on normalization within policies and programs determining the location of their housing. The higher funding levels for housing and residential support for persons with DD also provided programs with the option of placing people in higher income neighborhoods. Given that community integration has emerged as an organizing principle within mental health services over other models, policymakers in the field of psychiatric disabilities may have much to learn from the normalization movement for people with developmental disabilities.
AB - Housing and services for persons with developmental disabilities (DD) have been shaped by the normalization approach, a commitment to full integration within the general community. In contrast, housing and services for persons with psychiatric disabilities (PD) have had various and sometimes conflicting goals, including provision of custodial care, promotion of therapeutic community, and community integration. This cross-field study compares the neighborhood characteristics of publicly-funded housing for the PD and DD populations in a metropolitan community. The aim of the study was to examine whether the contrasting housing approaches are reflected at an ecological level and to consider how these findings relate to the goal of community integration for people with PD and DD. Administrative databases provided residential addresses of 1932 residents with PD living in 297 locations and 1716 residents with DD living in 749 locations in the city of Philadelphia. The 2000 U.S. Census and city's police department database provided information on neighborhood characteristics. Geographic information system (GIS) methodology generated maps displaying the distribution of housing locations in relation to spatial dispersion, distress, stability, safety, and race/ethnic diversity. Statistical analyses compared neighborhood characteristics of the DD and PD populations. Findings indicated that the DD population in supportive housing was more spatially dispersed, and lived in less distressed, less unstable, more secure, but equally racially/ethnically diverse neighborhoods when compared to the PD population in supportive housing. Greater geographic dispersal among persons with DD may be the result of more emphasis on normalization within policies and programs determining the location of their housing. The higher funding levels for housing and residential support for persons with DD also provided programs with the option of placing people in higher income neighborhoods. Given that community integration has emerged as an organizing principle within mental health services over other models, policymakers in the field of psychiatric disabilities may have much to learn from the normalization movement for people with developmental disabilities.
KW - Developmental disabilities
KW - Geographic information system (GIS)
KW - Housing
KW - Psychiatric disabilities
KW - USA
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U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.01.046
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.01.046
M3 - Article
C2 - 19251346
AN - SCOPUS:63149122324
SN - 0277-9536
VL - 68
SP - 1376
EP - 1387
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
IS - 8
ER -