Nearly three-quarters of homeless adults with mental illness in Canada show evidence of cognitive deficits, such as difficulties with problem solving, learning and memory, new research has found.
The study-believed to be the largest of its kind -assessed neurocognitive functioning indicators such as mental processing speed, verbal learning and memory in 1,500 homeless adults in five Canadian cities.
The findings were published online by the journal Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica.
“This points to an often unrecognized problem for the segment of Canada’s homeless population that suffers from mental illness,” said Dr. Vicky Stergiopoulos, chief of psychiatry at St. Michael’s Hospital and a scientist in its Centre for Research on Inner City Health.
“These are the skills that people need to follow treatment or support recommendations, maintain housing stability or successfully complete day-to-day tasks.”