Residential moves and its association with substance use, healthcare needs, and acute care use among homeless and vulnerably housed persons in Canada

Miriam Harris, Anne Gadermann, Monica Norena, Matthew To, Anita M. Hubley, Tim Aubry, Stephen Hwang and Anita Palepu ()
Additional contact information
Miriam Harris: McGill University
Anne Gadermann: St. Paul’s Hospital
Monica Norena: St. Paul’s Hospital
Matthew To: St. Michael’s Hospital
Anita M. Hubley: University of British Columbia
Tim Aubry: University of Ottawa
Stephen Hwang: St. Michael’s Hospital
Anita Palepu: St. Paul’s Hospital

International Journal of Public Health, 2019, vol. 64, issue 3, No 11, 399-409

Abstract: Abstract Objectives To determine the relationship between housing instability, as measured by the number of residential moves, with problematic substance use, unmet healthcare needs, and acute care utilization. Methods A cohort of homeless or vulnerably housed persons from Vancouver (n = 387), Toronto (n = 390), and Ottawa (n = 396) completed interviewer-administered surveys at baseline and annually for 4 years from 2009 to 2013. Generalized mixed effects logistic regression models were used to examine the association between the number of residential moves and each of the three outcome variables, adjusting for potential confounders. Results The number of residential moves was significantly associated with higher acute care utilization [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 1.25; 95% confidence interval (CI) CI: 1.17–1.33], unmet healthcare needs (AOR 1.14; 95% CI: 1.07–1.22), and problematic substance use (AOR 1.26; 95% CI: 1.16–1.36). Having chronic physical or mental conditions and recent incarceration were also found to be associated with the outcomes. Conclusions Housing instability increased the odds of all three poor health metrics, highlighting the importance of stable housing as a critical social determinant of health.

Keywords: Health; Homelessness; Housing; Housing instability; Residential moves; Substance use; Unmet healthcare needs; Acute care utilization; Hospitalization; Emergency department (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00038-018-1167-6 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:ijphth:v:64:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s00038-018-1167-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/00038

DOI: 10.1007/s00038-018-1167-6

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Thomas Kohlmann, Nino Künzli and Andrea Madarasova Geckova

More articles in International Journal of Public Health from Springer, Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().