Phyllis Solomon, PhD

Professor

Bio | Link to Scholarly Papers | Curriculum Vitae (pdf) | Research

Research - Current Projects

Community Integration of SMIs in Supportive Housing

Description: It has been assumed that given appropriate services and supports suited to their mental health status and needs, persons with serious mental illness (SMI) may maintain community tenure and participate as full members of the community in the least restrictive living environment, as exemplified by independent housing. However, while housing and support services are found to be two critical components in maintaining community tenure, services research has not examined the extent to which housing and service characteristics are related to community integration of persons with SMI living in independent housing. The research project seeks to document the levels of community integration and examine the extent to which housing and service characteristics explain variability in integration among consumers in supportive independent housing. A broadened definition of community integration is used, which encompasses the physical, social and psychological aspects of integration. A sample of 252 individuals was interviewed and their housing characteristics documented using direct observation and administrative data. Staff members of 27 residential support programs were interviewed on the behavioral environment (policy and availability of services) of programs, which provide community supports. Information collected from multiple sources will provide data to test hypotheses.

Project sponsor: National Institute of Mental Health (R24 MH-63220)

Dates: September 2001 to August 2004

Project staff: Irene Wong (Principal Investigator), Phyllis Solomon (Co-Principal Investigator), Julie Tennille (Project Coordinator), Sara Bressi (Pre-doctoral NRSA Fellow), Victoria Stanhope (Pre-doctoral Research Fellow), Amy Hillier (Collaborator), Stephen Marcus (Collaborator), Mike Filoromo (Research Assistant), Alice Chun (Pre-doctoral Research Fellow).

Collaborating agency: City of Philadelphia Office of Mental Health

Project-related publications:
Wong, Y.L.I. & Solomon, P.L. (2002) “Community integration of persons with psychiatric disabilities in supportive independent housing: A conceptual model and methodological considerations,” Mental Health Services Research, 4(1): 13-28.

Project-related presentations:
Wong, Y.L.I., Bressi, S., Tennille, J., & Solomon, P. “Adapting Measures of Program Characteristics for Supportive Independent Living.” (Poster Presentation) Seventh Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, January 2003.

Wong, Y.L.I. “Supported Housing: A Viable Approach for Reintegration of Offenders with Psychiatric Disability?” (Paper Presentation) in the First Biennial Conference on “Reentry to Recovery: People with Mental Illness Coming Home from Prison or Jail.” The Center for Mental Health Services & Criminal Justice Research, April 2004.

Wong, Y.L.I., Bressi, S., Tennille, J., & Solomon, P. “Improving the Content Validity of the Group/Organizational Membership Scale for Use with Persons with Serious Mental Illness.” (Poster Presentation) Eighth Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, January 2004.

Wong, Y.L.I., Filoromo, M., Stanhope, V., Tennille, J., Hillier, A.H. “Supported Housing for Psychiatric Consumers: Program Components and Community Integration.” (Paper Presentation) 4th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health, Quebec City, Canada, May 2004.