Accuracy of Homeless Adults' Self-Reports

Examines the extent to which homeless respondents can be relied on to report accurately their use of health services. Survey responses from a representative sample of homeless adults regarding their ambulatory medical visits to a particular clinic were compared with the records of that clinic. This comparison suggested that homeless respondents were quite accurate when reporting the presence or absence of ambulatory medical care visits, but were not able to report accurately the number of such visits during a specific time frame. Compared to non-homeless respondents, the homeless were somewhat less accurate in recalling medical utilization information, but these differences were not large.