{"id":551,"date":"2024-03-17T01:15:22","date_gmt":"2024-03-17T01:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swpro.org\/amymejias\/?page_id=551"},"modified":"2024-08-15T18:03:03","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T18:03:03","slug":"special-project","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/swpro.org\/amymejias\/special-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Addressing Social-Mental Health Needs in Public Housing: A Case Study<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

Project Introduction<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

In working with the Resident Engagement team at the Chattanooga Housing Authority, it is clear that residents have many needs.\u00a0 Some we can help with, others that we cannot help as much with.\u00a0 My manager at Chattanooga Housing Authority aims to improve the services that we can provide to residents, so between knowing the goals that she would like to meet, along with my interest in the relevance of adverse childhood experiences for those living in public housing, the idea for this project came to life.<\/span><\/p>\n

My special project at the Chattanooga Housing Authority, was a research study titled, “Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Addressing Social-Mental Health Needs in Public Housing: A Case Study<\/strong>“, which was done by surveying residents at the Greenwood Terrace, Emerald Villages, Fairmount, Maple Hills, Oaks at Camden, Cromwell Hills, and Villages at Alton Park housing sites.\u00a0 The participants were residents of these sites, aged 18 and older.<\/span><\/p>\n

Social Issues<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The social issues addressed in this research project include the prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences of residents who reside in public housing, the resident’s social-mental health needs, issues in public housing, and health equity and social justice.\u00a0 The reasons for these issues being collectively addressed, are to gather a clear picture of the needs of the residents for CHA to better be able to address them, as well as to gather information on the prevalence of ACE’s to prepare for trauma-informed practice.\u00a0 This project was initiated by me, with great help and support from Dr. Racovita, and the approval of management at Chattanooga Housing Authority’s central office and the help and support of my colleagues in the Resident Engagement Team and Chattanooga Housing Authority.<\/span><\/p>\n

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Mental Health<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Negative experiences during childhood, known as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), can result in adult vulnerability, affect health and opportunities in life, as well as play a role in adverse housing outcomes (Grey & Woodfine, 2018).\u00a0 One study found that individuals living in public housing may experience poorer health outcomes than those residing in homes they own (Byrne et al., 2014). Another study that focused on older adults living in public housing showed that about one-third of participants in the study had four or more ACEs and that often substance abuse was an associated implication of ACE\u2019s and public housing as well as poor mental and physical health outcomes (Larkin et al., 2017; Mersky et al., 2018).\u00a0 Reasons for not seeking help for mental health issues include stigma, especially in minority populations, shame, embarrassment, and poverty (Young, 2015). However, the association between ACEs and living in public housing, whether generational or not, has not been researched. Additionally, the literature shows that public housing residents are at higher risks of experiencing poorer mental and physical health outcomes as mentioned above; therefore, it is imperative that an assessment of these needs as relate to ACEs in the context of public housing services be conducted to better understand the needed services for this population. The current survey seeks to assess the social and mental health needs of the residents, as well as housing and ADL needs that CHA may be in a position to assist with. The survey has been designed in conjunction with the CHA resident engagement team’s supervisor to ensure that it meets the needs of CHA as well as meeting the research goals.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How This Relates to Chattanooga Housing Authority<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Chattanooga Housing Authority (CHA) manages approximately 2,300 low income apartments which house individuals, couples, and families (CHA-Managed Housing, n.d.). <\/span> CHA provides case management, educational services, and some social engagement events through its resident engagement team. However, coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic there is a clear need for engaging the residents as a community. This may lead to better mental health outcomes. Additionally, there has been no survey such as this done previously with any of the housing sites managed by CHA. Therefore, this survey will add to the body of knowledge of the profession, as well as provide a trauma informed social worker lens for approaching housing residents, and their social and mental health needs.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Research Project<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The goals of this research were to identify the social, mental health, and physiological needs of the residents at these particular sites while also taking into consideration their ACE’s scores and generational and migration information.\u00a0 The questionnaire, which can be found here<\/a>, includes questions 6 about their physiological needs, 9 questions about their social needs, 3 questions related to stress, 3 questions related to anxiety, 3 questions related to depression and 3 questions related to bipolar disorder, and includes the full 10 questions ACES questionnaire.\u00a0 The survey also asks about current health conditions and treatment they are receiving, and what assistance for mental health they would be interested in, as well as household and current, past, and generational living situations, and asks specific questions on what needs and services that they would like from the Chattanooga Housing Authority.<\/span><\/p>\n

Framework<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The theoretical framework that guided this project and my research was the Ecological Systems Theory.\u00a0 The theory, and this research, looks at the various environmental influences that impact the individual’s development and well-being.\u00a0 This includes the microsystem, which is the immediate environments that they interact with including their families and their neighbors and also includes their childhood, which is where the ACES scores are relevant, the mesosystem which may include Chattanooga Housing Authority and the services they offer the residents, the exosystem which includes the services in the community and the policies that affect the residents, the macrosystem which includes the societal perceptions of public housing, economic policies, and cultural norms, and lastly, the chronosystem which examines how situations change over time which particularly involves the aspects of my research regarding generational living in public housing and migration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Participant Recruitment<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure 1<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Residents of the sites mentioned above were recruited using the flier in Figure 1.\u00a0 Resident Engagement team staff members placed the fliers on residents’ doors and in some cases spoke to residents directly about the survey and its benefits to them and their community.\u00a0 Due to an ARC grant, we were able to provide gift cards as an incentive to the first 150 participants of the survey.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Research Results<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Demographics<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

There were 61 total respondents who had filled out the majority of the survey.\u00a0 18 respondents (29.5%<\/strong>) were from the Villages at Alton Park, 13 respondents (21.3%<\/strong>) were from Cromwell, 8 respondents (13.1%<\/strong>) were from Greenwood Terrace, 7 respondents (11.5%<\/strong>) were from Emerald Villages, 2 respondents (3.3%<\/strong>) were from Maple Hills, 1 respondent (1.6%<\/strong>) were from Oaks at Camden, 1 respondent (1.6%<\/strong>) were not currently living at a CHA site (there information was still used for survey purposes since they still fall into the same demographics and socioeconomic status as the participants from the sites).\u00a0 11 responses (18%<\/strong>) for site were missing.<\/span><\/p>\n

The largest age group was ages 35 \u2013 39, making up 16.4%<\/strong> of respondents, followed by 25 \u2013 29, making up 13.1%<\/strong> of respondents, and then 30 \u2013 34, making up 11.5%<\/strong> of respondents.\u00a0 86.9%<\/strong> of respondents were female and 4.9%<\/strong> were male.\u00a0 Regarding race, 75.4%<\/strong> of respondents were African American, 9.8%<\/strong> were Caucasian, and 6.6%<\/strong> selected other.\u00a0 All responding participants selected that they were not<\/strong> Hispanic or Latino for ethnicity.\u00a0 The majority of participants were unemployed (32.8%<\/strong>), followed by \u201cother\u201d (14.8%<\/strong>), which included write in responses that were mainly disabled or on SSI.\u00a0 The majority of participants were single (62.3%<\/strong>) or divorced (9.8%<\/strong>).\u00a0 Regarding education, the majority of participants had their High School diploma or GED (50.8%<\/strong>) followed by some High School but did not graduate (16.4%<\/strong>).\u00a0 Detailed bar graphs showing all percentages of the responses can be found in the Appendix.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most Relevant Needs<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Food<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n