Exploring and Mapping Screening Tools for Cognitive Impairment and Traumatic Brain Injury in the Homelessness Context: A Scoping Review

Erin M. Fearn-Smith (), Justin Newton Scanlan and Nicola Hancock
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Erin M. Fearn-Smith: Faculty of Medicine and Health, Centre for Disability Research and Policy, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2050, Australia
Justin Newton Scanlan: Faculty of Medicine and Health, Centre for Disability Research and Policy, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2050, Australia
Nicola Hancock: Faculty of Medicine and Health, Centre for Disability Research and Policy, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2050, Australia

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-52

Abstract: Cognitive impairment is common amongst people experiencing homelessness, yet cognitive screening and the collection of history of brain injury rarely features in homelessness service delivery practice. The purpose of this research was to scope and map strategies for screening for the potential presence of cognitive impairment or brain injury amongst people experiencing homelessness and identify instruments that could be administered by homelessness service staff to facilitate referral for formal diagnosis and appropriate support. A search was conducted across five databases, followed by a hand search from relevant systematic reviews. A total of 108 publications were included for analysis. Described in the literature were 151 instruments for measuring cognitive function and 8 instruments screening for history of brain injury. Tools that were described in more than two publications, screening for the potential presence of cognitive impairment or history of brain injury, were included for analysis. Of those regularly described, only three instruments measuring cognitive function and three measuring history of brain injury (all of which focused on traumatic brain injury (TBI)) may be administered by non-specialist assessors. The Trail Making Test (TMT) and the Ohio State University Traumatic Brain Injury Identification Method (OSU TBI-ID) are both potentially viable tools for supporting the identification of a likely cognitive impairment or TBI history in the homelessness service context. Further population-specific research and implementation science research is required to maximise the potential for practice application success.

Keywords: homelessness; cognitive impairment; traumatic brain injury; screening tools; case management; rehabilitation; recovery; supportive housing; social determinants of health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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