IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v8y2018i2p2158244018769138.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Homeless Men Living in Transitional Housing: The BrainWise Program and Improvements in Executive Functions and Coping Self-Efficacy

Author

Listed:
  • Marilyn Welsh
  • Patricia Gorman Barry
  • Amanda Atwater Jacobs
  • Lindsay A. Beddes

Abstract

We describe an innovative approach to teaching homeless men the critical thinking skills underlying adaptive decision making and self-regulation needed to bolster resilience in the face of multiple and complex personal challenges. Single men living in a transitional housing facility for the homeless were taught the BrainWise curriculum ( n = 210) along with other educational, career, and life skills programs, and tested 4 months later. This group was compared with a smaller control group ( n = 61) of men from the same and similar facilities. Outcomes were measured through self-reports of executive functions (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function [BRIEF]), problem solving (Wasik Problem Solving Rating Scale [WPSRS]), coping (Coping Self-Efficacy [CSE]), and knowledge of the thinking skills taught through BrainWise (BrainWise Knowledge Survey [BKS]). All measures showed adequate internal consistency reliability and less strong, but significant, test–retest stability. As expected, self-reported skills in executive function, coping self-efficacy, problem solving, and BrainWise knowledge covaried in predictable ways. The attrition between the pretest and posttest was not predicted by any of the major outcome measures. The sample of 108 men in the Treatment Group who were still in the program 4 months later exhibited significant improvements on all BRIEF composites and subscales, CSE, and the BKS, but not on the WPSRS. In contrast, the remaining 37 Control Group men showed many fewer improvements in the BRIEF scores and a decrease in the WPSRS score. The results suggest the efficacy of BrainWise and measurement of these skills in the vulnerable population of homeless individuals; however, challenges of this type of research and limitations of this study are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Marilyn Welsh & Patricia Gorman Barry & Amanda Atwater Jacobs & Lindsay A. Beddes, 2018. "Homeless Men Living in Transitional Housing: The BrainWise Program and Improvements in Executive Functions and Coping Self-Efficacy," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(2), pages 21582440187, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:8:y:2018:i:2:p:2158244018769138
    DOI: 10.1177/2158244018769138
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244018769138
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2158244018769138?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ferguson, Kristin M. & Bender, Kimberly & Thompson, Sanna J., 2015. "Gender, coping strategies, homelessness stressors, and income generation among homeless young adults in three cities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 47-55.
    2. Ivar Krumpal, 2013. "Determinants of social desirability bias in sensitive surveys: a literature review," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 2025-2047, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michael T Gastner & Károly Takács & Máté Gulyás & Zsuzsanna Szvetelszky & Beáta Oborny, 2019. "The impact of hypocrisy on opinion formation: A dynamic model," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(6), pages 1-21, June.
    2. Narendorf, Sarah C. & Brydon, Daphne M. & Santa Maria, Diane & Bender, Kimberly & Ferguson, Kristin M. & Hsu, Hsun-Ta & Barman-Adhikari, Anamika & Shelton, Jama & Petering, Robin, 2020. "System involvement among young adults experiencing homelessness: Characteristics of four system-involved subgroups and relationship to risk outcomes," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    3. Babette Bühler & Katja Möhring & Andreas P. Weiland, 2022. "Assessing dissimilarity of employment history information from survey and administrative data using sequence analysis techniques," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 4747-4774, December.
    4. Sjöstedt, Martin & Sundström, Aksel & Jagers, Sverker C. & Ntuli, Herbert, 2022. "Governance through community policing: What makes citizens report poaching of wildlife to state officials?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    5. Tricia Koroknay†Palicz & Joao Montalvao, 2020. "Sex, Lies, and Surveys: The Role of Interviewer Characteristics," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(4), pages 3313-3324.
    6. Burke, Mary A. & Carman, Katherine G., 2017. "You can be too thin (but not too tall): Social desirability bias in self-reports of weight and height," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 27(PA), pages 198-222.
    7. Shinichi Kitano, 2021. "Estimation of Determinants of Farmland Abandonment and Its Data Problems," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-17, June.
    8. Chassman, Stephanie & Littman, Danielle Maude & Bender, Kimberly & Santa Maria, Diane & Shelton, Jama & Ferguson, Kristin M. & Hsu, Hsun-Ta & Narendorf, Sarah C. & Barman-Adhikari, Anamika & Petering,, 2020. "Educational attainment among young adults experiencing homelessness in seven cities across the United States," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    9. Burgstaller, Lilith & Feld, Lars P. & Pfeil, Katharina, 2022. "Working in the shadow: Survey techniques for measuring and explaining undeclared work," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 661-671.
    10. Seres, Gyula & Balleyer, Anna Helen & Cerutti, Nicola & Danilov, Anastasia & Friedrichsen, Jana & Liu, Yiming & Süer, Müge, 2021. "Face masks increase compliance with physical distancing recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 7(2), pages 139-158.
    11. Yuning Wu & Ivan Y. Sun & Rong Hu, 2021. "Cooperation with Police in China: Surveillance Cameras, Neighborhood Efficacy and Policing," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(1), pages 433-453, January.
    12. Egon Dejonckheere & Brock Bastian, 2021. "Perceiving Social Pressure not to Feel Negative is Linked to a More Negative Self-concept," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 667-679, February.
    13. Martin Korndörfer & Boris Egloff & Stefan C. Schmukle, 2015. "A Large Scale Test of the Effect of Social Class on Prosocial Behavior," Working Papers 1601, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    14. Chadi, Adrian, 2013. "Third Person Effects in Interview Responses on Life Satisfaction," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 133(2), pages 323-333.
    15. Michela Accerenzi & Pablo Brañas-Garza & Diego Jorrat, 2022. "Parents’ knowledge and predictions about the age of menarche: Experimental evidence from Honduras," Working Papers 132, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    16. Guo, Shiau-Ling, 2023. "The governance implication of the geographic concentration of franchise activities for franchise relationships," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    17. Victoire Girard, 2021. "Stabbed in the back? Mandated political representation and murders," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 56(4), pages 595-634, May.
    18. Giorgio Piccitto & Hans M. A. Schadee & Gabriele Ballarino, 2023. "Job Satisfaction and Gender in Italy: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 775-793, October.
    19. Kuehnle, Daniel, 2019. "How effective are pictorial warnings on tobacco products? New evidence on smoking behaviour using Australian panel data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    20. Marsha L. Brierley & Lindsey R. Smith & Angel M. Chater & Daniel P. Bailey, 2022. "A-REST (Activity to Reduce Excessive Sitting Time): A Feasibility Trial to Reduce Prolonged Sitting in Police Staff," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-27, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:8:y:2018:i:2:p:2158244018769138. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.