This article tests a hypothesized model of overall happiness among homeless people in Spain. The research was conducted based on a representative sample of homeless people in Madrid (n = 235), all adults, who had spent the night before the interview in a shelter for homeless people, on the street or in other places not initially designed for sleeping, or who were in supervised accommodation for...

BACKGROUND Homeless adults frequently use emergency departments (EDs), yet previous studies investigating ED utilization by the older segment received little attention. This study sought to characterize older homeless adults who utilized local urban EDs. METHODS ED encounters at three hospitals in Hamilton (Ont.) were analyzed, and demographic and clinical characteristics of the older homeles...

BACKGROUND The Government of Cambodia has committed to supporting family care for vulnerable children, including homeless populations. Collecting baseline data on the numbers and characteristics of homeless adolescents was prioritized to illuminate the scope of the issue, mobilize resources and direct the response. METHODS Administrative zones across seven cities were purposively selected to ...

BACKGROUND The homeless population of France has increased by 50% over the last 10 years. Studies have shown that homelessness is associated with a high risk of premature death. The aim of this study was to estimate the number of homeless deaths in France between 2008 and 2010, using a reproducible method. METHODS We used the capture-recapture method to estimate the number of homeless deaths ...

Homeless people have multiple barriers in accessing health care services, and health care providers' negative attitudes toward homeless people have been suggested as part of the problem. Studies on dental students' attitudes toward homeless people are lacking, so our aim was to understand dental students' attitudes. Dental students under the supervision of faculty members spent one day per week...

OBJECTIVES We evaluated the combined influences of orphaned status and homelessness on HIV seroprevalence and risk among street-involved Ukrainian youth in 2008. DESIGN Systematic, multicity, community-based, cross-sectional assessment. METHODS Time-location sampling was used to identify eligible youth aged 15-24 after city-wide mapping of 91 sites where street-involved youth gathered in Od...

OBJECTIVES Homeless people lack a secure, stable place to live and experience higher rates of serious illness than the housed population. Studies, mainly from the USA, have reported increased use of unscheduled healthcare by homeless individuals.We sought to compare the use of unscheduled emergency department (ED) and inpatient care between housed and homeless hospital patients in a high-income...

BACKGROUND Homeless people have higher morbidity and mortality rates than the general population. Research has shown that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in older homeless adults. This study was undertaken to describe the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in the homeless population in Prague. METHODS Data was obtained from a cross-sectional study carried out in 20...

BACKGROUND Being homeless or vulnerably housed is associated with death at a young age, frequently related to medical problems complicated by drug or alcohol dependence. Homeless people experience high symptom burden at the end of life, yet palliative care service use is limited. AIM To explore the views and experiences of current and formerly homeless people, frontline homelessness staff (fr...

BACKGROUND Little is known about homeless patients in intensive care units (ICUs). OBJECTIVES To compare clinical characteristics, treatments, and outcomes of homeless to non-homeless patients admitted to four ICUs in a large inner-city academic hospital. METHODS 63 randomly-selected homeless compared to 63 age-, sex-, and admitting-ICU-matched non-homeless patients. RESULTS Compared to m...