Abstract

Homeless persons are often reported to be more depressed than the general community, but little previous research has examined their depressive state after being housed. In addition, the kinds of traits, attributes, and cognitive factors that have been found to be inversely correlated with the depressive effects of life stressors in the general population have not been compared within the previously-homeless. To investigate these issues, a sample of 79 previously-homeless persons from Regional Australia completed a series of questionnaires about their recent life stressors, depression, and three sets of attributes. Results indicated that the prevalence of severe depression was several times that reported for the general population and that only one of the three attributes measured was significantly inversely correlated with the depression severity of participants. The clinical significance of these findings is discussed with a view to the provision of targeted interventions to this population.

摘要

据报道，无家可归者比一般社区更抑郁，但之前的研究很少检查他们被安置后的抑郁状态。此外，已发现与普通人群中生活压力源的抑郁影响呈负相关的特征、属性和认知因素的种类尚未在以前无家可归的人群中进行比较。为了调查这些问题，来自澳大利亚偏远地区的 79 名以前无家可归者的样本完成了一系列关于他们近期生活压力源、抑郁症和三组属性的问卷调查。结果表明，严重抑郁症的患病率是一般人群报告的数倍，并且测量的三个属性中只有一个与参与者的抑郁症严重程度呈显着负相关。讨论了这些发现的临床意义，以期为该人群提供有针对性的干预措施。