Critical Synthesis Package: Attitudes Towards Homelessness Inventory (ATHI)

Date of Review: December, 2019

This resource describes the Attitudes Towards Homelessness Inventory (ATHI), a brief 11-item survey meant to be self-administered by health sciences students. The ATHI contains 4 validated subscales measuring learner attitudes regarding personal causation (i.e. homelessness is due to personal deficiencies), societal causation, willingness to affiliate with homeless people, and solutions to homelessness. This brief resource also presents information on how the instrument has been validated, and citations of pre-post ATHI analyses for education interventions among medical trainees. This resource may be helpful to assess potential changes in trainees’ attitudes before and after a training/curriculum about the provision of health care to homeless patients. Although some items may be subject to social desirability bias or interpreted as being politically- or values-driven, selected subscales can apparently be administered in lieu of the entire 11-item survey. Even if the entire instrument is administered, it would still be quick and relatively easy to do so. — Dave Liss, PhD, NCEAS