Risk of mental ill-health among homeless women in Madrid (Spain)
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Risk of mental ill-health among homeless women in Madrid (Spain) Sara Rodriguez-Moreno 1
&
Sonia Panadero 1
&
José Juan Vázquez 2
Received: 10 February 2020 / Accepted: 23 April 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Several studies have revealed that homeless people suffering from mental health problems are more vulnerable than homeless without those mental health problems. Nevertheless, there is a lack of evidence describing the real circumstances of homeless women. This paper explores the differences between homeless women at high risk of mental ill-health compared with those who do not present this risk. The sample consisted of a group of 120 homeless women in Madrid (Spain). For this study, we collected data on background information (trajectory of homelessness and stressful life events experienced) and current aspects (living conditions, physical health, and social support). The risk of mental ill-health has been measured by the short version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). The results showed that homeless women with higher risk of mental ill-health had become homeless at a younger age, had experienced more stressful life events in their lives, had a poorer physical health, felt less happy, had less social support, and a greater feeling of loneliness when compared with homeless women who did not present risk of mental ill-health. Improving knowledge about the risk of mental ill-health among homeless women is essential for the design of specific psychological interventions within this population. Keywords Homelessness . Homeless women . Mental health . GHQ
Introduction In more economically developed societies, homeless people are on the lowest rung of social exclusion. They not only live in extreme poverty but also suffer from high levels of family and social disengagement, have great difficulty in achieving social/employment reintegration, and suffer from significant mental and physical health problems (Panadero and Vázquez 2016). A lack of housing is a significant determinant factor in health (Angel and Bittschi 2019). Several studies have reported that homeless people are in poorer physical health than the general population (Lebrun-Harris et al. 2013). This poorer
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-020-01036-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Sara Rodriguez-Moreno [email protected] 1
Clinical Psychology Department, School of Psychology, Complutense University of Madrid, 28223 Madrid, Spain
2
Social Psychology Department, Alcala University, 28801 Alcala de Henares, Madrid, Spain
state of health leads directly to an increased risk of mortality, twice as high as the general population (Hwang et al. 2009). However, the relationship between homelessness and health not only manifests itself in physical health problems but is also apparent in mental health problems (Chambers et al. 2014). Epidemiological data suggest a much highe
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