Version 1
: Received: 24 October 2024 / Approved: 24 October 2024 / Online: 24 October 2024 (17:01:44 CEST)
How to cite:
Gordon, S. J.; Baker, N.; Marin, T. S.; Steffens, M. Health Deficits Among People Experiencing Homelessness in an Australian Capital City: An Observational Study. Preprints2024, 2024101943. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.1943.v1
Gordon, S. J.; Baker, N.; Marin, T. S.; Steffens, M. Health Deficits Among People Experiencing Homelessness in an Australian Capital City: An Observational Study. Preprints 2024, 2024101943. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.1943.v1
Gordon, S. J.; Baker, N.; Marin, T. S.; Steffens, M. Health Deficits Among People Experiencing Homelessness in an Australian Capital City: An Observational Study. Preprints2024, 2024101943. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.1943.v1
APA Style
Gordon, S. J., Baker, N., Marin, T. S., & Steffens, M. (2024). Health Deficits Among People Experiencing Homelessness in an Australian Capital City: An Observational Study. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.1943.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Gordon, S. J., Tania S Marin and Margie Steffens. 2024 "Health Deficits Among People Experiencing Homelessness in an Australian Capital City: An Observational Study" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.1943.v1
Abstract
People experiencing homelessness face challenges that result in poorer health outcomes compared to those in stable housing. This study provides the results from over 40 health measures that capture the general physical and mental health of a group of people experiencing homelessness aged 22 to 84 years, in an inner-city location, invited to participate in a comprehensive assessment of physical and psychological health. We found evidence of accelerated ageing, with 44.2% of people being clinically frail, 63% had poor functional movement, and 36% had pain associated with oral health. Additionally, 90.6% of participants showed health risks due to nutrition deficiencies, over half reported poor sleep quality, 55.3% reported having psychological distress, and almost half reporting fair or poor overall dental health. This study presents a path to providing a relatively easily implemented group of health assessments to help respond to a group of underlying causes for accelerated ageing, among a group of inner-city people experiencing homelessness. This work can be used to inform the prioritisation and development of community-based health services to address functional deficits that may contribute to accelerated ageing.
Keywords
health status; accelerated ageing; people experiencing homelessness; vulnerable population; public health
Subject
Public Health and Healthcare, Public Health and Health Services
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
