What Is The Purpose Of The Study Homeless

One major community health issue that is prominent in society is homelessness. According to Canadian Observatory on Homelessness (2012), homelessness describes the situation of an individual or family who are unstable and cannot afford appropriate and permanent housing. They are unable to acquire suitable shelter due to possible reasons, such as financial issues, mental or physical challenges and discrimination. Most people do not choose to be homeless; however, when individuals are set to live unsheltered, the experience is often negative and stressful. The community aspect found within homelessness refers to society’s failure to ensure that everyone has access to housing. This may be due to inadequate systems, and lack of funding and support offered to people, especially those in troubled situations. Many people who are homeless often experience serious mental and physical health implications as well as a change in their overall well-being. Particular individuals who are at risk of homelessness may be affected by personal risk factors, such as substance misuse and mental illness. However, not only does this issue affect homeless or at risk individuals, but it also affects members of the community. As the population of people living on the streets or in shelters increase, communities are impacted through the increased demand of services and supports.

The homeless are a vulnerable population. They are defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as “an individual who lacks housing (without regard to whether the individual is a member of a family), including an individual whose primary residence during the night is a supervised public or private facility (e.g., shelters) that provides temporary living accommodations, and an individual who is a resident in transitional housing.” (The National Health Care for the Homeless Council, 2016). They are a social group throughout the US who are susceptible to all of the life’s cruelties. They are much more at risk for adverse illnesses due to their lack of available resources and medical help. Many have predetermined illnesses which need daily treatment but cannot acquire the medication needed. The homeless population lacks the funding for life’s necessities, thus the luxury of insurance and medicine is a dream.

Homelessness has been a problem for many years in the United States. This misfortune is becoming even a bigger issue due to people losing jobs and having no income. Not having any type of income leads to neglect in the way of just trying to survive. One issue that homeless individuals neglect is their health care. In this literature review, the main theme centers on how vulnerable this population is to not receiving adequate health care. “Meeting the needs of the homeless requires a different approach than that of the general population, thus healthcare providers must be aware of these needs and learn how to facilitate and improve care for homeless individuals” (Seiler & Moss, 2012, p. 305). The homeless population is a group that is sometimes stereotyped for their homeless situation; however, many are in an unfortunate situation that was not chosen by

There are currently 564,708 homeless individuals in the United States (U.S.), however this is just an estimate as there are probably hundreds that go uncounted, during PIT (point-in-time count) or remain unregistered with non-profit agencies providing services (The National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2016). Before the Affordable Care Act (ACA) most homeless individuals did not have health insurance, as provisions for these individuals as well as the low-income population could only be accepted into the Medi-cal / Medicaid program, if they had children that were eligible. Since ACA was implemented a large percentage of the homeless are insured, but, this does not mean that the preexisting gaps and barriers to access health care do not exist. They do. Being homeless has been found to correlate to a poor health status (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2016). In fact, homeless individuals are at risk and experience more chronic illness than someone who has housing. Additionally, once chronic illness develops in a homeless individual, they are at higher risk for comorbid conditions, new conditions (such as skin disorders and respiratory illness) and an acceleration in the development of their disease(s).

The clinical issues affecting the homeless individual can range from mental illness to health issues. Several clinical issues affect the homeless population because of lack of health insurance and clinical resources. “The clinical issues affecting homeless people are dental, vision, foot diseases, post-traumatic arthritis, HIV, TB, STD’s respiratory infections, diabetes, hypertension, and nutritional problems are all major clinical issues” (Zevin, 2013). Quite a few people are homeless and suffer from various clinical issues because they have no insurance, housing, support from family/friends, or program resources. It seems when populations such homelessness is so huge some are left behind with no help. Various social service organizations exist that cater to the homeless population, but so many individuals and families are not helped because of mis-direction. Health care is an important factor to many, especially those who do not have access to a health care facility. Social services resources are available as well as the human service

The cost of housing is on the rise and many become homeless because they that are not making enough money to afford the cost of housing. The cost of health care and insurance has risen dramatically over the past years. For families living low or middle incomes that can be devastating. Families or individuals that lack health insurance, a sudden illness, chronic disease or accident can be financially devastating. Many people don’t understand the problems homeless families are facing and most families are homeless because of finical situations or because

Homelessness is a critical issue that requires everyone’s attention. Hundreds of thousands of homeless people live on the streets as their shelter. Historically, homelessness has always been a problem in society. Homeless people were known as “the wondering poor”, “sturdy beggars”, and as “vagrants,” but it was not until the late 18th century that homelessness because noticeable to society. Homeless person is anyone who lacks adequate shelter, resources, and community ties. People who are homeless can be categorized as chronic deinstitutionalized or temporary

The review of hospital records and death records of both the homeless and non-homeless are compared. Specific socioeconomic classifications such as overcrowding, automobile ownership, and overcrowding were used to label the socioeconomic status in relationship to health outcomes. Homelessness needs to be addressed in order to increase mortality rates in combination with treating any other threats for homelessness (Morrison, 2009).

Homelessness affects men, women, families, children, youth, and veterans. While structural factors, like the unequal distribution of income and lack of affordable housing, cause homelessness, certain vulnerabilities may determine who is at higher risk for homelessness. These include addictions, mental illness, domestic violence, medical conditions, and lack of education or job skills. This research paper will shed some light on the issue of homelessness and how we can prevents it with some suggested solutions.

Among general population, homelessness has been a social, economic, and public health concern in the U.S. for at least three decades.

Cities increasingly grapple with homelessness, while facing budget cuts to various services, but the failure to tackle homelessness creates more problems. While there are homeless people who are on drugs, some are there because housing is expensive and they have no reliable sources of income. Homelessness may result in the city spending more on welfare in a never ending cycle without finding a solution to homelessness. There are various factors associated with the risk of homelessness, including individual factors like those fleeing domestic abuse, and even those who can longer earn a living because of health conditions and disabilities. The problem of homelessness is further compounded when the homeless suffer mental health issues and alcohol or drug dependence (Benston, 2015). Homelessness is a problem that affects even the youth, and stakeholders ought to work together to tackle the problem, as city officials, and residents are the audience who should be concerned with the problem at the local level.

Many who have experienced food insufficiency feel that health care is a lower priority when directing their personal resources. Another barrier is vision impairment, the person may be unable to navigate the system or collect needed health information due to poor eye sight (Baggett, O’Connell, Singer, & Rigotti, 2010). Finding transportation to clinics or provider’s offices to receive care may enable some from using preventive care. Another major factor is stigmatism. A homeless man or woman may feel they are being stigmatized by health care professionals (Hwang et al., 2010). Work for the homeless often comes day by day and is unpredictable. In addition their current job may be the only source of income for the individual or family. The consequences of missing work even for health reasons is costly to someone’s survival, making work their number one priority. These various reasons can lead to prolonged homelessness, loss of employment related to inability to work from being ill, and further health deterioration or possibly death (Hwang et al., 2010). The extent that homeless individuals are able to obtain health care is largely unknown (Baggett, O’Connell, Singer, & Rigotti, 2010).

Homelessness is an issue in the United States. Individuals often become homeless for reasons such as; joblessness, underemployment, and enervation of unemployment benefits. People with families often do not earn enough income to support a family and provide adequate housing. Some people neglect to pay their rent, and as a result, he or she and possibly the entire family become homeless. In addition, people and families with barriers associated with medical issues, illicit drug use, and sexual/physical abuse may become homeless. The impact of multiple barriers on a person and/or family and lack of available resources to address these needs, is one of the many reasons why homelessness is such a serious issue within communities

This research study done was to be conducted with the idea in mind on the barriers that are faced by homeless people when it comes to healthcare. In evaluating this topic a recommendation for a topic in the future research would be to focus on a specific population of homeless people such as the following: run-away homeless teenagers with that grew up in dysfunctional homes, homeless ex-convicts (male & female), homeless people due to alcohol and drug use, and even homeless people due to mental

Homelessness is a problem virtually every society suffers from. There are many things that cause people to become homeless, such as unemployment, relationship problems, and being evicted from ones domicile either by a landlord, friend or even a family member. However, with every cause there must be an effect. Some of the effects of one becoming homeless, besides the obvious change of lifestyle, are various health problems which often times may lead to death.