Psychology Department, Simon Fraser University, RCB 5246 - 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada.
St. Paul's Hospital, 1081 Burrard St., Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6, Canada; University of British Columbia, Faculty of Medicine, 317, 2194 Health Sciences Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada.
J Adolesc. 2019 Apr;72:64-69. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2019.02.011. Epub 2019 Mar 7.
Homeless and precariously housed young people are a complex, vulnerable population frequently perceived as being difficult to engage in health and social services. Although unrecognized deficits in cognitive functioning may adversely affect their ability to access assistance and meaningfully participate in programming, few researchers have examined these deficits. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent of global and domain-specific cognitive impairment of street involved young people.
A retrospective chart review was conducted using intake data from 494 clients (64% male; average age of 21 years) enrolled in a community-based inner city mental health program in Vancouver, Canada. Descriptive statistics were used to examine performance on six cognitive domains for a subsample (N = 44) referred for neuropsychological evaluation and bivariate statistics were used to compare youth who were and were not referred.
Cognitive impairment was evident in 80% of referred clients, with the most frequent difficulties involving attention and processing speed. Approximately 51% of clients referred for testing did not have more than a grade ten education and only 5% received government support for those with significant disabilities. Apart from alcohol use disorder, no significant differences were identified on sociodemographic and mental health variables between groups of referred and non-referred clients.
Significant cognitive impairment was found in 80% of the young people referred for neuropsychological evaluation. This level of impairment combined with high levels of early school exiting and low levels of government support highlight the need for targeted screening to facilitate early identification and intervention.
无家可归和住房不稳定的年轻人是一个复杂且脆弱的群体，他们经常被认为难以接受健康和社会服务。尽管认知功能的未被识别缺陷可能会对他们获得援助和有意义地参与项目的能力产生不利影响，但很少有研究人员检查过这些缺陷。本研究的目的是检查街头青年普遍存在的认知障碍和特定领域的认知障碍的程度。
使用加拿大温哥华一个社区内心理卫生计划的 494 名客户（64%为男性；平均年龄 21 岁）的入组数据，进行了回顾性图表审查。使用描述性统计来检查接受神经心理评估的子样本（N=44）在六个认知领域的表现，使用双变量统计来比较接受和未接受评估的青年。
认知障碍在 80%的被转介客户中明显存在，最常见的困难涉及注意力和处理速度。大约 51%的被转介测试的客户没有超过 10 年级的教育，只有 5%的客户获得了政府对有重大残疾的人的支持。除了酒精使用障碍外，在社会人口统计学和心理健康变量方面，被转介和未被转介客户之间没有显著差异。
在接受神经心理评估的年轻人中，有 80%的人存在明显的认知障碍。这种程度的损伤加上早期辍学率高和政府支持率低，突出了需要进行有针对性的筛查，以促进早期发现和干预。
