A Comprehensive Assessment to Enable Recovery of the Homeless: The HOP-TR Study

Vital Needs of Dutch Homeless Service Users: Responsiveness of Local Services in the Light of Health Equity

BACKGROUND

Healthcare and social services aim to ensure health equity for all users. Despite ongoing efforts, marginalized populations remain underserved. The Dutch HOP-TR study intends to expand knowledge on how to enable the recovery of homeless service users.

METHODS

A naturalistic meta-snowball sampling resulted in a representative sample of homeless services (N = 16) and users (N = 436). Interviews collected health and needs from user and professional perspectives in a comprehensive, rights-based ecosystem strategy. We calculated the responsiveness to needs in four domains (mental health, physical health, paid work, and administration).

RESULTS

Most service users were males (81%) with a migration background (52%). In addition to physical (78%) and mental health needs (95%), the low education level (89%) and functional illiteracy (57%) resulted in needs related to paid work and administration support. Most had vital needs in three or four domains (77%). The availability of matching care was extremely low. For users with needs in two domains, met needs ranged from 0.6-13.1%. Combined needs (>2 domains) were hardly met.

CONCLUSIONS

Previous research demonstrated the interdependent character of health needs. This paper uncovers some causes of health inequity. The systematic failure of local services to meet integrating care needs demonstrates the urgency to expand recovery-oriented implementation strategies with health equity in mind.

Perceived Social Support Attenuates the Association between Stress and Health-Related Quality of Life among Adults Experiencing Homelessness

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is defined as a multidimensional subjective assessment of one’s physical and mental health. Homelessness is associated with numerous stressors that can reduce HRQoL. Social support is defined as the availability of individuals, or resources provided by individuals, to cope with stress. Interpersonal social support may be important in buffering HRQoL from the negative implications of stress. Here, we examine this association in a marginalized group known for high rates of physical and mental health comorbidities: adults experiencing homelessness. Participants (N = 581; 63.7% men; M_age = 43.6 ± 12.2) were recruited from homeless-serving agencies in Oklahoma City. Social support was measured with the 12-item Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL). HRQoL was measured by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey using self-rated health, the number of poor mental and poor physical health days over the preceding 30 days, as well as the number of limited activity days as the result of poor mental and/or physical health. Perceived stress was assessed using the 4-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The potential moderation effect of social support was examined by assessing the interaction term of social support and stress in a series of linear regression analyses, controlling for sex, age, months homeless, race, education, health insurance status, serious mental illness diagnosis, and recruitment agency/site. There was a significant interaction effect of social support and stress on the prediction of days of poor physical health, days of poor mental health, and days of limited activity (p in all cases ≤ 0.05). Results add to a growing literature on the potentially protective benefits of social support for HRQoL, extend them to a large sample of adults experiencing homelessness in the South, and demonstrate the significance of this moderating effect of social support over and above the influence of several prominent sociodemographic and diagnostic variables. Future work should determine if interventions designed to enhance social support can buffer HRQoL from the deleterious effects of stress among this vulnerable population.