Personal History Form

Instrument name: Personal History Form

To obtain the original instrument click here

Citation: Barrow, S. M., Hellman, F., Lovell, A. M., Plapinger, J. D., Robinson, D. R., & Struening, E. L. (1984). Personal History Form. New York: New York State Psychiatric Institute, Community Support Systems Program, Epidemiology of Mental Disorders Research Department.

Purpose: To assess the residence and homeless history of homeless adults with mental illness.

Population: Homeless adults with mental illness

Publication date(s): 1984

Domain: Housing history

Administration: Original instrument combined open-ended questions with structured sections.  Adaptations in subsequent studies focused on recent homelessness (last 60 days) and used a structured format to elicit residential and homeless history.

Reliability and validity information: (1) Test-retest analysis [interclass correlation coefficients >0.60, n=20] (Sosin, M.R. [2002]. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 55, 63-91); (2) test-retest analysis [r>.60] (Drake, R.E. [1995]. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 56, 2, 161-167)

Item description/response options: Residence and homeless history are divided into two parts. Residence history (#39-44) included structured and semi-structured items and collects information from birth to present. The homeless history (#44a-66) is structured and collects information on all episodes of homelessness.  A follow-up version (PHFU) elicited time spent during follow-up interval in 16 types of living situations. Adapted versions focused on last sixty days, eliciting number of days in literal homeless situations, marginal homeless situations, institutional housing, and stable housing.

Description of the original study: The original PHF was designed for use with homeless persons in street or drop-in settings to assess demographic information, parental status, educational background, veteran status, residence history, homeless history, work history, financial support, clinical history, substance abuse treatment history, and arrest and incarceration history.  Adapted versions of the form have been widely used (e.g., Bassuk et al [1998]. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology; Orwin et al [1999]. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment; Shern et al [2000]. American Journal of Public Health; Sosin [2002]. British Journal of Medicine and Social Psychiatry; and Weinreb et al [1998]. Pediatrics.