Rathod, S.D. orcid.org/0000-0001-8783-7724, Annand, P.J., Hosseini, P. et al. (2 more authors) (2024) Epidemiological features of depression and anxiety among homeless adults with healthcare access problems in London, UK: descriptive cross-sectional analysis. BJPsych Open, 10 (3). e93. ISSN 2056-4724
Abstract
Background In England in 2021, an estimated 274 000 people were homeless on a given night. It has long been recognised that physical and mental health of people who are homeless is poorer than for people who are housed. There are few peer-reviewed studies to inform health and social care for depression or anxiety among homeless adults in this setting.
Aims To measure the symptoms of depression and anxiety among adults who are homeless and who have difficulty accessing healthcare, and to describe distribution of symptoms across sociodemographic, social vulnerability and health-related characteristics.
Method We completed structured questionnaires with 311 adults who were homeless and who had difficulty accessing healthcare in London, UK, between August and December 2021. We measured anxiety and depression symptoms using the 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4) score. We compared median PHQ-4 scores across strata of the sociodemographic, social vulnerability and health-related characteristics, and tested for associations using the Kruskal–Wallis test.
Results The median PHQ-4 score was 8 out of 12, and 40.2% had scores suggesting high clinical need. Although PHQ-4 scores were consistently high across a range of socioeconomic, social vulnerability and health-related characteristics, they were positively associated with: young age; food insecurity; recent and historic abuse; joint, bone or muscle problems; and frequency of marijuana use. The most common (60%) barrier to accessing healthcare related to transportation.
Conclusions Adults who are homeless and have difficulty accessing healthcare have high levels of depression and anxiety symptoms. Our findings support consideration of population-level, multisectoral intervention.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Royal College of Psychiatrists. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that no alterations are made and the original article is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained prior to any commercial use and/or adaptation of the article. |
Keywords: | Depressive disorders; anxiety or fear-related disorders; epidemiology; polypharmacy; social deprivation |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Faculty of Social Sciences Research Institute The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Medicine and Population Health |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 04 Sep 2024 14:48 |
Last Modified: | 04 Sep 2024 14:48 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2024.34 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Royal College of Psychiatrists |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1192/bjo.2024.34 |
Related URLs: | |
Sustainable Development Goals: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:216820 |