Kamieniecki G W
Julia FArr Services, Felixtow, South Australia, Australia. jfshome&
Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2001 Jun;35(3):352-8. doi: 10.1046/j.1440-1614.2001.00910.x.
To review the prevalence literature on psychological distress and psychiatric disorders among homeless youth in Australia, and to compare these rates with Australian youth as a whole.
Computerized databases were utilized to access all published Australian studies on psychological distress (as measured by standardized symptom scales and suicidal behaviour) and psychiatric disorders among homeless youth; in addition, unpublished Australian studies were utilized whenever accessible. A total of 14 separate studies were located, only three of which have included non-homeless control groups. In the current review, prevalence data from uncontrolled youth homelessness studies are compared with data from Australian community and student surveys.
Homeless youth have usually scored significantly higher on standardized measures of psychological distress than all domiciled control groups. Youth homelessness studies have also reported very high rates of suicidal behaviour, but methodological limitations in these studies make comparisons with community surveys difficult. Furthermore, rates of various psychiatric disorders are usually at least twice as high among homeless youth than among youth from community surveys.
Homeless youth in Australia have extremely high rates of psychological distress and psychiatric disorders. As homeless youth are at risk of developing psychiatric disorders and possibly self-injurious behaviour the longer they are homeless, early intervention in relevant health facilities is required.
回顾澳大利亚无家可归青少年心理困扰和精神疾病的患病率文献，并将这些比率与澳大利亚全体青少年进行比较。
利用计算机数据库检索澳大利亚所有已发表的关于无家可归青少年心理困扰（通过标准化症状量表和自杀行为衡量）和精神疾病的研究；此外，只要可获取，还利用了未发表的澳大利亚研究。共找到14项独立研究，其中只有3项纳入了无家可归的对照组。在本次综述中，将无对照的青少年无家可归研究中的患病率数据与澳大利亚社区和学生调查的数据进行了比较。
在心理困扰的标准化测量中，无家可归青少年的得分通常显著高于所有有住所的对照组。青少年无家可归研究还报告了很高的自杀行为发生率，但这些研究中的方法学局限性使得与社区调查进行比较变得困难。此外，无家可归青少年中各种精神疾病的发生率通常至少是社区调查中青少年的两倍。
澳大利亚无家可归青少年的心理困扰和精神疾病发生率极高。由于无家可归青少年流浪时间越长，患精神疾病和可能出现自我伤害行为的风险就越高，因此需要在相关医疗机构进行早期干预。
