MedEdPORTAL (Feb 2013)
Critical Synthesis Package: Attitudes Towards Homelessness Inventory (ATHI)
Abstract
Abstract This Critical Synthesis Package contains: (1) a Critical Analysis of the psychometric properties and the application to health science education of the Attitudes Towards Homelessness Inventory (ATHI), and (2) a copy of the ATHI instrument and the scoring instructions developed by J.B. Kingree, PhD. The ATHI is a short, self-administered instrument with 11 items, divided into 4 validated subscales. These subscales consist of the following: (1) Personal Causation (PC-homelessness is due to personal deficiencies), (2) Societal Causation (SC-homelessness is due to societal causes), (3) Affiliation (AFFIL-willingness to affiliate with homeless people), and (4) Solutions (SOLN-there are viable solutions to homelessness). The response options are presented along a 6-point Likert-type scale for each item. Mean subscale scores and a total scale score can be calculated. Higher scores indicate more favorable attitudes towards homelessness. ATHI has been demonstrated to respond to change in the attitudes about homelessness in different groups of people (college students, nurse practitioner students, and internal medicine residents) after various interventions. The male/female proportion of responders influences the absolute AHTI scores. The scale also demonstrated concurrent validity with two other instruments used to gauge attitudes towards the homeless. Studies designed to assess ATHI's ability to detect long-term attitude change in culturally diverse population groups are needed. The scale uses the framework of personal vs. societal causation of homelessness, which needs to be reconciled with the recent literature suggesting a complex interplay of factors contributing to homelessness. This resource describes the ATHI which is a short, self-administered instrument with four validated subscales. ATHI is responsive to change in attitudes about homelessness in different groups of people, after various interventions. ATHI is a useful assessment tool for attitudes towards homelessness before and after educational interventions.
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