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Background: Numerous studies have highlighted the inequitable access to medical and psychiatric care that people experiencing homelessness (PEH) face, yet the surgical needs of this population are not well understood. We sought to assess evidence describing surgical care for PEH and to perform a thematic analysis of the results. Methods: Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, and Web of Science were searched using the terms 'surgery' AND 'homelessness.' Grey literature was also searched. We used a stepwise scoping review methodology, followed by thematic analysis using an inductive approach. Results: We included 104 articles in our review. Studies were included from 5 continents; 63% originated in the United States. All surgical specialties were represented with varying surgical conditions and procedures for each. Orthopedic surgery (21%) was the most frequently reported specialty. Themes identified included characteristics of PEH receiving surgical care, homeless-to-housed participants, interaction with the health care system, educational initiatives, barriers and challenges, and interventions and future strategies. Conclusion: We identified significant variation and gaps, representing opportunities for further research and interventions. Further addressing the barriers and challenges that PEH face when accessing surgical care can better address the needs of this population. Contexte : Si de nombreuses études ont souligné l'accès inéquitable aux soins médicaux et psychiatriques pour les personnes en situation d'itinérance (PSI), les besoins chirurgicaux de cette population ne sont pas bien compris. Nous avons cherché à évaluer les données décrivant les soins chirurgicaux pour les PSI afin de faire une analyse thématique des résultats. Méthodes : Les bases de données Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, et Web of Science ont été interrogées avec les termes << surgery >> [chirurgie] ET << homelessness >> [itinérance]. La littérature grise a aussi été interrogée. Nous avons utilisé une méthode de synthèse exploratoire par étapes, suivie d'une analyse thématique par approche inductive. Résultats : Nous avons inclus 104 articles dans notre revue. Les études sélectionnées provenaient de 5 continents; 63% venaient des États-Unis. Toutes les spécialités chirurgicales étaient représentées, avec diverses conditions et interventions chirurgicales pour chacune. La chirurgie orthopédique (21%) était la spécialité la plus souvent rapportée. Les thèmes relevés comprenaient les caractéristiques des PSI recevant des soins chirurgicaux, les personnes participantes passées de l'itinérance au logement, l'interaction avec le système de santé, les initiatives d'éducation, les obstacles et défis, et les interventions et stratégies futures. Conclusion : Nous avons décelé une variation et des lacunes considérables, qui représentent des occasions de recherche et d'interventions. Il faudra s'attaquer davantage aux obstacles et aux défis rencontrés par les PSI dans l'accès aux soins chirurgicaux pour mieux répondre aux besoins de cette population., Homelessness is a major social and health-related concern globally. In Canada alone, there are 25000-35000 people experiencing homelessness (PEH) on any single night. (1) The circumstances surrounding an individual's homelessness [...]

In recent decades, the call to 'clean up the streets' (1) has rarely escaped the political docket. Politicians from both sides of the aisle and academics alike have argued for [...]

Purpose In the United States, families with children characterize the fastest growing portion of the homeless population. Parenting for families experiencing homelessness presents unique challenges since families facing homelessness are disproportionately more likely to experience a myriad of interpersonal and contextual stressors that heighten the risk of parents engaging in suboptimal parenting approaches. This article describes the development and implementation of the Family Care Curriculum (FCC) train-the-trainer parenting support program specifically designed to support positive parenting in families experiencing homelessness. Description The FCC is a 6-week theory-based parenting intervention aimed to create positive shifts in parental attitudes to enhance sensitive and nurturing parenting and positive parent-child relationships. FCC assists parents in reflecting on how their own experiences contribute to some of their parenting beliefs, patterns, and behaviors. Parents are coached to imagine and understand the emotions, attachment, and developmental needs behind their children's behaviors so they can maintain empathic and nurturing parenting responses in the context of cumulative and chronic stress. Parents are supported through learning to engage in self-care. A unique and important feature of the FCC is the inclusion of a culturally sensitive approach that takes into consideration the effects of racism, classism, and oppression on parent-child relationships. Conclusion FCC was designed, implemented, and championed by expert providers in the fields of family therapy, social work, and pediatrics to support parents experiencing homelessness. FCC adds to the body of effective attachment-based, trauma-informed, and culturally sensitive parenting interventions for improving parent-child relations and family health amongst vulnerable populations., Author(s): Sandy L. Sheller [sup.1] [sup.2] , Karen M. Hudson [sup.1] [sup.3] , Joan Rosen Bloch [sup.4] [sup.5] , Bridget Biddle [sup.3] , E. Stephanie Krauthamer Ewing [sup.2] , Jaime [...]

This study uses national longitudinal data from the Journeys Home survey to examine how violence and housing insecurity in one period affect disadvantaged Australians' chances of experiencing violence and housing insecurity in subsequent periods. Men experience much higher rates of violence and housing insecurity than do women. Our analyses show that housing insecurity in one period increases men's and women's subsequent risks of housing insecurity and that violence in one period increases their subsequent risks of violence. However, the multivariate results provide no evidence of one-period crossover effects for women and only limited effects for men. (JEL J1, R2), I. INTRODUCTION Being a victim of physical violence and losing one's accommodation are each deleterious events. Physical violence is painful and in extreme instances can inflict disabling injuries and emotional [...]

Although research has documented the majority of homelessness experienced by individuals and families in the US to be transitional rather than chronic, the mechanisms by which some families successfully escape homelessness while other do not remains relatively unclear. To provide more information to this area of inquiry, this study analyzed the transitional nature of homelessness for a sample of families with school-aged children who were homeless under the McKinney-Vento definition. By conducting a survey with over 1000 homeless families with children enrolled in two public school systems in Central Florida, we find that over a quarter of families exit homelessness in less than six months. We compare these families to those that remained homeless to examine the potential importance of demographic differences and other potential barriers to securing housing. Many of the commonly assumed barriers were not significant predictors of continued homelessness; the most salient difference between the groups was income underscoring the importance of employment opportunities for families to allow them to exit homelessness., Author(s): Amy M. Donley [sup.1] , Denise Crisafi [sup.1] , Alyssa Mullins [sup.1] , James D. Wright [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) 0000 0001 2159 2859grid.170430.1Department of Sociology, University of Central [...]

A recent issue of Psychiatric Times featured an opinion piece by D.J. Jaffe who argued that there is little empirical support for the effectiveness of paid peer-support staff--persons in recovery [...]

As the nation moves into the 2016 presidential election cycle grappling with multiple military engagements, a large and growing veterans population and problems in the Veterans Administration, a group of [...]

This study examines the relationships between cumulative victimization that began during childhood (witnessing intimate partner violence [IPV], physical abuse by a caregiver, and sexual victimization), adolescent IPV victimization, homelessness, and depression symptoms within a sample of 206 urban adolescent mothers. We used cluster analysis to identify five profiles of cumulative childhood victimization, and explored the extent to which adolescent IPV victimization and homelessness mediated the relationships between these clusters and participants' current depression symptoms. Overall, we found that a significant portion of the effect of cumulative childhood victimization on current depression was explained by IPV victimization and homelessness, indicating that both are important mediators of childhood violence exposure within this high-risk sample of young women., Author(s): Angie C. Kennedy[sup.1] , Deborah Bybee[sup.2] , Megan R. Greeson[sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) School of Social Work, Michigan State University, 655 Auditorium Road, Baker Hall, Room 254, 48824, East [...]

This article explores the links between urban restructuring, homelessness, and collective action in Toronto in the 1980s and 1990s. In Toronto, as elsewhere, urban restructuring at this time comprised a [...]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.09.034 Byline: Marah A. Curtis (a), Hope Corman (b)(c), Kelly Noonan (b)(c), Nancy E. Reichman (d) Abstract: This study exploits an exogenous health shock -- the birth of a child with a severe health condition that is considered by the medical community to be random -- to investigate the effect of that shock on the family's housing situation. We use population-based data from an urban birth cohort study in the U.S. that oversampled non-marital births, resulting in a relatively disadvantaged sample that may be particularly susceptible to the effects of adverse life events. The health conditions were recorded in the infants' hospital medical records and coded by a pediatric consultant to capture conditions that are considered both severe and random. Seven different housing outcomes in the domains of quality, crowding, and stability were assessed from maternal interviews and in-home assessments when the children were 3 years old. We found that poor child health increases the likelihood of both overcrowding and homelessness and that it may also increase the likelihood of having inadequate utilities and generally poor housing quality. The effect sizes ranged from 1 to 17 percentage points, depending on the measure of poor child health and housing outcome. Author Affiliation: (a) Boston University, Boston, MA, United States (b) Rider University, Lawrenceville, NJ, United Statesa (c) National Bureau of Economic Research, New York, NY, United States (d) Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ, United States

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.04.013 Byline: Helena Tunstall (a), Kate Pickett (a), Sarah Johnsen (b) Abstract: People that move home within developed countries report, on average, better health than non-movers. Pregnant women, new mothers and infants are particularly mobile, but the limited evidence regarding the relationship between their mobility and health suggests they may not conform to the 'healthy migrant' effect. This paper examines the relationship between mobility and health among these groups in the UK, using logistic regression to analyse cross-sectional data for 18,197 families in the Millennium Cohort Study wave one. It compares health status variables among mobile and non-mobile families; describes mobile families' socio-demographic characteristics; explores associations between health outcomes, reasons for residential moves, and experiences of homelessness; and assesses the association between mobility and health care utilisation, social support and residential satisfaction. The paper concludes that mobile pregnant women, new mothers and infants do have poor health outcomes in comparison to non-movers, but this is primarily explained by their socio-demographic characteristics and the negative circumstances associated with a minority of their moves. Families that moved during pregnancy and infancy had worse self-rated health and depression among mothers, and lower birth weight and higher risk of accidents among infants, than non-movers. Mothers in mobile families were younger and had lower levels of education and owner-occupation than non-movers. After adjustment for socio-demographic characteristics mobility was weakly and non-significantly associated with most health variables with the exception of self-rated health and depression among mothers who moved for negative reasons (such as relationship breakdown or problems with neighbours), or had been homeless since birth. After adjustment mobile families had lower levels of most measures of health care utilisation compared to non-movers, but mothers did not report less frequent social contacts, and those that moved during infancy for positive reasons (such as wanting a better home or neighbourhood) had greater satisfaction with home and area. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Health Sciences, University of York, United Kingdom (b) Centre for Housing Policy, University of York, United Kingdom

This article explores the emergence of neo-liberal housing policy and programmes in the United States, focusing in particular on the rise of social service initiatives targeting what is known as 'chronic homelessness'. These initiatives are notable for the ways in which they privilege long-vilified populations for immediate placement into housing with no social or medical services required. While this represents a significant break from social service protocols that previously demanded compliance with service requirements, the article argues that understanding chronic homelessness initiatives as economic rather than social programmes reveals the ways in which they enable the reproduction of the same neo-liberal conditions that produce housing insecurity and deprivation. The article concludes by reframing housing issues in terms of racial subordination, which suggests that, in the neo-liberal context, social abandonment and economic investment may persist side by side. Keywords: neo-liberalism; social policy; Foucault; biopolitics; state racism; homelessness. DOI: 10.1080/03085141003620139

This paper presents the results of a research project to understand how a major technology adoption project is taken up in the social setting of Calgary's three major homeless shelters. An understanding of how technology is used 'on the ground' and how it relates to the project's goals is the key contribution of this research. The results of interviews with clients at the homeless shelters and shelter staff provide the empirical data for an analysis of the major issues concerning the actual and intended use of this Smart Communities project. The research project is influenced by institutional ethnography, which looks at the role of texts in coordinating social relations. This article suggests that information technology could be seen as a text 'superpower' in coordinating social relations among socially 'at risk' people in particular. It concludes that more transparent dialogue is required oil how actions are concerted by information technology. Keywords: sociology of technology: smart communities, information technology: homelessness; ethnography 10.1177/0162243908329568

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8500.2007.00532.x Byline: Bianca McKinney (1), Darren Halpin (2) Keywords: insider/outsider model; pressure group theory; homelessness Abstract: The insider/outsider model, first developed in the 1970s by Wyn Grant in the United Kingdom, is perhaps the most common analytical device deployed by Australian scholars in making sense of pressure or interest group behaviour. The British literature has since witnessed a high level of debate, critique and refinement of the original model, and we argue this also adds value to the discussion of group life in Australia. This article operationalises and compares two insider/outsider models commonly used to make sense of the public policy advocacy of pressure groups: (i) the conventional or orthodox models of insider/outsider and (ii) the so-called 'Aberdeen' insider/outsider model. It is argued that the latter model is more analytically powerful than the current understanding of insider and outsider pressure groups; that ideology is less of a determining factor in the ascription of status than the existing understanding implies; and that the Aberdeen model is applicable in the Australian context. These arguments are sustained via the examination of a case study of the policy advocacy of two social service groups in Western Australia during the State Homelessness Taskforce in 2001: the Western Australian Council of Social Service and the Tenants Advice Service of Western Australia. Author Affiliation: (1)Edith Cowan University (2)Edith Cowan University and The Robert Gordon University

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2006.11.003 Byline: John Fantuzzo, Staci Perlman Keywords: Multiple Logistic Regression Analyses; Out-of-home placement; Maltreatment; Mediating effects Abstract: Increased national attention has underscored the importance of promoting educational well-being for children who have been placed in out-of-home care. The present study, informed by a developmental epidemiology framework, examined the unique impact of out-of-home placement and the mediating effects of child maltreatment and homelessness on the academic achievement and school adjustment of an entire cohort of second grade children in a large urban school district. Data on birth risks, placement history, child maltreatment, and homelessness from birth through second grade were integrated across municipal agencies for over 11,000 second grade students. Multiple Logistic Regression analyses demonstrate that children with a history of out-of-home placement were at increased risk for poor literacy and science achievement controlling for demographics and birth risks. These children also evidenced significantly higher levels of behavior problems and school suspensions than children with no out-of-home placement history. Maltreatment and homelessness were found to have significant mediating effects on the relationship between out-of-home placement and children's educational well-being. Implications for policy and practice were discussed. Author Affiliation: University of Pennsylvania, USA Article History: Received 11 September 2006; Revised 3 November 2006; Accepted 15 November 2006

This article explores a metaview of the many faces of homelessness. It analyzes an evolutionary meaning of home and suggests that ever-complexifying life conditions influence how societies enforce conformity to the status quo of homefulness. It goes on to describe how homelessness might be reframed as a complex adaptive form of survival for diversity generators who cannot or will not conform to the status quo. The article proposes an integral framework on which intervention strategies could be structured to provide evolutionary, appropriate, and flexible approaches to homelessness. KEYWORDS: Complexity, evolution, homelessness, integral interventions, maladaption.

The collaborative family program development (CFPD) model, a collaborative research-based approach to creating community-based programs for families, is presented. The nature and complexities of a collaborative program development stance, the unique contribution to community-based program development offered by a family systems focus, and the 10 steps in the CFPD approach are described.

[This article argues that homelessness is a violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms, including the right to liberty and security of the person, the right to freedom from discrimination, [...]

IN RECENT YEARS, A PATTERN HAS EMERGED, A SEEMINGLY SELF-EVIDENT TREND toward restricting, regulating, and removing from public view persons commonly referred to categorically as 'the homeless.' I first encountered [...]

On Monday, July 14, 1828, Dora Wordsworth, her father William Wordsworth, and their friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge, traveling companions for several weeks, came upon a Jewish family while walking along [...]

As a psychiatry resident, I worked at a community service agency in Los Angeles, treating chronically homeless patients with serious mental illness and substance use disorders (SUD) as they transitioned [...]

Poor people have long been stigmatized and blamed for their situation. According to theory about stigma and about inequality-legitimating ideologies, homeless people should be stigmatized even more severely than the 'generic poor.' Recent research suggests that the opposite may be true, but the data used in comparing attitudes toward homeless and other poor people have not been strictly comparable. Thus the conclusions that can be drawn are limited. Using a vignette experiment designed to directly compare attitudes toward a homeless and a domiciled poor man and to compare the effects of being labeled homeless with those of being labeled mentally ill, we find that (1) the homeless man is blamed no less than the domiciled man and generally is stigmatized more severely; (2) the strength of the stigma attached to the 'homelessness' label equals that for mental hospitalization; and (3) the stigmas of homelessness and mental hospitalization are independent of one another. Thus, in addition to the hardships of the homeless condition itself, homeless people suffer stigmatization by their fellow citizens. The results also suggest that the robust tendency to blame the disadvantaged for their predicament holds true for modern homelessness as well.

A central element of community response to controversial human service facilities is the socio-spatial construction of stigma. This paper develops a conceptual framework for understanding the constitution and role of stigma in community rejection of human services, particularly those associated with homelessness and HIV/AIDS. Three facets of stigma concerning homelessness and HIV/AIDS (non-productivity, dangerousness, and personal culpability) are offered as a way of understanding the rising tide of community rejection toward human service facilities. Key words - socio-spatial stigmatization, homelessness, HIV/AIDS

Brendan O'Flaherty's 'Making Room' explains the rise of homelessness using numerical data without trivializing the human aspects of the problem. Although the book is less elegantly written than Christopher Jenks's 'The Homeless,' O'Flaherty's conversational prose lends fluidity to his theoretical perspectives which, in less able hands, could turn tedious. This reading is a must for social scientists involved in poverty research, housing and urban policy.

Christopher Jencks' book 'The Homeless' analyzes the possible reasons for the growing number of homeless people and suggests possible measures. Homelessness may be due to the inability of the mental health system to care for mental patients outside institutions, the proliferation of crack cocaine, the reduction of job opportunities and the massive replacement of low-cost hotels and lodges by expensive hotels. Jencks' suggestions include the provision of jobs for single mothers and the establishment of services for the those who cannot work., Over the last decade and a half, substantive political, economic, and social transformations have produced a rapid growth in the number of homeless people within the United States. In The [...]

A student of French culture considers the idea that the human condition is basically homeless. From this theory it follows that nothing comes to humans by birthright or gratis. Those who cross cultural boundaries increase the condition of homelessness, and they do not believe that home possession equals safety and comfort. All tradition in America is invented.

A study of the cause and effect of poverty and homelessness in America indicates that, compared to the traditionally homeless, recent homeless comprise visible, younger people, more women with children and more ethnic minorities. The policies addressing the problems related with homelessness may be grouped into health, economic, housing, social programs and religious approaches. Various programs aimed at providing short-term rehabilitation along with strengthening personal responsibility and reforming the welfare system are essential.

Limited research has been conducted on elderly homeless people, particularly in the UK. Data on the coping strategies of such groups, their daily needs and the story of their entry into homelessness are scarce. Concerned sectors are urged to develop and refine concepts and methodologies which can help elucidate the nature of homelessness in the aged and combine them with the political and social mechanics required to provide substantial solutions.

Poverty debates have recently focused upon the emergence of an underclass characterised by a detachment from society's normative behaviour and values. Alternative contributions invite us to view the growth in social assistance as the 'new poor' measured against the 'traditional' poor. In neither the accounts of 'new poverty' nor of the underclass is there any theorisation of space or th role that housing plays in contributing to these experiences of poverty. This paper argues that a multidisciplinary perspective must be used to understand ne forms of poverty and, whilst dismissing the underclass thesis, analyses the rol that housing plays in the creation and sustenance of deprivation. It concludes that new patterns and concentrations of poverty are better explained by an approach which incorporates the housing dynamic as it relates to structuring where the poor live.

The commentators I selected for this special issue were invited not because of their reputations for extraordinary kindness and politeness but because they each knew a lot about homelessness and [...]

Homelessness between men and women, which markedly differ in fundamental ways, does not provide a clear information on gender differences. The selection process for classifying men and women into homelessness should be similar in attributes and experiences. The differences in the causes of physical symptoms do not account for higher female morbidity rates. Lastly, there is no sufficient evidence to conclude health status as a function of observed sex differences.

Sociologists have long observed the tendency of the public to support individualistic explanations for poverty, and critiqued the role of academics in the victim blaming process. At the current time, as economic inequality increases and homelessness becomes a problem of growing public concern, the potential for sociology to facilitate victim blaming is of interest and concern. Some of the motivations and mechanisms of victim blaming that emerge in academic publications are examined, and their impact on mass media publications and in the classroom discussed.

Politicians always try to attribute the problem of hopelessness to the closure of mental hospitals and individual character weakness rather than to failed government policies. However, the closure of mental hospitals can hardly be seen as a cause of rising numbers of homeless people since most were already closed before Pres Ronald Reagan's term. The number of alcoholics and drug dependents has also stayed fairly constant during the 1980s. Actual cause of the housing problem can be traced to Reagan's policy of cutting government expenditure on low-cost housing construction.

HUD's Administration of the McKinney Act: A Problem in State-Federal Relations The federal government's response to homelessness generally has taken the form of sporadic reactions to pressure from advocacy groups [...]

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Government proposals to regenerate rundown communities in the north are blamed for rising levels of homelessness in the region in a report published this week. The study by housing charity [...]

To estimate a conditional probability model of homelessness, a study is conducted that combines data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation with the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients. The results suggest the factors important for predicting homelessness.

Approaches from community and population ecology are adapted to study |homelessness' in New York City, where long-standing and continued reductions of critical housing-related municipal services, particularly fire extinguishment, to levels below those needed for maintaining urban population densities have triggered waves of coupled contagious destruction of low-income housing and forced migration of population. Massive destruction of housing, after a delay occasioned by the outmigration of some 1.3 million non-Hispanic whites from the city between 1970 and 1980 has contributed significantly to a serious housing deficit, by direct loss of low-income housing and possibly by creating economic forces which encourage the conversion of remaining low-income units to high-income units. This deficit, which by some analyses approaches a quarter million housing units affecting perhaps a million people, has created a large |precariously housed' population which, after a delay, is becoming overtly homeless as the decline of low-income housing supply collides with increasing numbers of the poor. Elementary mathematical analysis suggests the demographics of those precariously housed, but not yet homeless, strongly determines the dynamics of demand for emergency shelter, implying, for example, that under some circumstances the probability of avoiding homelessness may decline exponentially with time spent precariously housed, and that the number requiring emergency shelter may increase as rapidly as the square of the number precariously housed, depending on exact mechanisms. This paper provides prerequisites to a subsequent fuller exploration of the complex time dynamics of synergistic coupling between contagious urban decay, population migration, precariously housed population, homelessness, and public health deterioration in New York City.