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Publication Date: 2019
Lack of affordable housing, poverty, and intimate partner violence are among the most common reasons for homelessness among mothers and their children in Canada. Mothers experience social exclusion in compounding and debilitating ways. In the literature on social exclusion and health, rarely is safety recognized as a prominent component of social exclusion. The purpose of this critical narrative study was to better understand the unique narrative...
Publication Date: 2018
Purpose: People experiencing homelessness are high-users of hospital care in Canada. To better understand the scope of the issue, and how these patients are discharged from hospital, a national survey of key stakeholders was conducted in 2017. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach: The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness distributed an online survey to their network of members through e-mail and social media. A sample...
Publication Date: 2016
Substance use is common among homeless and precariously housed youth, yet few longitudinal studies track their usage over time. This paper analyzes data from a study of 187 youth and reports on their substance usage in the preceding month, year, and over their lifetime. The results are compared within the sample by sex and against a sample of similarly located housed youth. Findings suggest that female homeless and precariously housed youth repor...
Publisher: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness
Publication Date: 2016
Homelessness in Canada has been on the rise since the 1980s. In 2006, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights made a number of recommendations for the federal, provincial and territorial governments of Canada to address homelessness and inadequate housing as a “national emergency”(United Nations, 2006). Research has repeatedly found that individuals with addictions and mental illnesses are overrepresented among those...
Publisher: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness
Publication Date: 2016
The range of experiences and differing needs among specific homeless subgroups is not well understood. This is especially true for Canadian veterans – a subpopulation gaining increasing recognition among homeless communities across Canada. The Canadian Model for Housing and Support for Veterans Experiencing Homelessness commenced in 2012 as a project to generate knowledge and to test housing-with-support strategies for addressing homelessness amo...
Publication Date: 2015
The demographic profiles of homeless youth are varied and play an integral role in the experiences these young people have. This article reports on detailed demographic data collected from 187 homeless youth in the Youth Matters in London study, and compares it to demographic profiles of youth in the general Ontario population and with samples of homeless youth from five major Canadian cities. Results indicate demographic data is not consistently...
Publication Date: 2015
The concept of social exclusion has been proposed as an important social determinant of health. However, use of the concept in health and health promotion research is in its infancy. In nursing discourse, in particular, exploration and application of the concept of social exclusion is minimal. The purpose of this article is to explore the relevance of the concept of social exclusion in the development of nursing knowledge. Current knowledge regar...
Publication Date: 2013
The present study assessed the effects of an intervention that was designed to provide on-site, predischarge housing assistance for psychiatric clients. Participants included clients from acute (n = 219) and tertiary (n = 32) care hospital sites. Data were collected from hospital and shelter databases. Results revealed that in the majority of cases, the intervention reduced the number of individuals discharged to homelessness or no fixed address....
Publication Date: 2014
This commentary serves as a snapshot of a study midway through data collection and outlines some preliminary results. The purpose of the study is to better understand inter-relationships between poverty and social inclusion for psychiatric survivors. The study is allied with the Community–University Research Alliance (CURA), a Canadian government research grant program administered by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). P...
Publication Date: 2013
The high rate of arrests among homeless youths has stimulated a growing interest in uncovering the factors associated with police involvement in this population. This study explored external factors related to their arrests.
<b>Method</b>
This secondary analysis involved 186 homeless youths. The difference between youths who reported arrests and those who did not was examined based on the following variables: economic status, meaningf...
Publication Date: 2013
A variety of treatment, rehabilitation and support options assist people with serious mental illness (SMI) in their pursuit of recovery. Psychiatric/psychosocial rehabilitation (PSR) is an effective means to assist individuals with SMI achieve recovery, including successful community living. Housing is an important part of such community living. This paper addresses the role of PSR (skills training and environmental supports) in relation to resid...
Publisher: Canadian Observatory On Homelessness
Publication Date: 2013
In this chapter, we present the initial findings from a large, ongoing, mixed-methods (i.e. combines statistical and narrative methods) study, called Youth Matters in London: Mental Health, Addiction and Homelessness, involving 187 homeless youth living with diagnosed or undiagnosed mental illness and/or an addiction. Participating youth are being followed over a period of time in order to gain insight into their preferences regarding housing and...
Publication Date: 2013
Responding to Youth Homelessness: A Systems Approach Learning Series - Session #2
Keynote: Cheryl Forchuk, Professor and Associate Director of Nursing Research at the Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, with a cross appointment to the Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Western Ontario.
In the second session of this Learning Series, Cheryl Forchuk discusses the relat...
Publication Date: 2013
This study examined the effects of an intervention in which psychiatric clients from acute (n = 219) and tertiary (n = 32) sites were provided with predischarge assistance in securing housing (Authors).
After spending time in the hospital, psychiatric clients are often discharged to homeless shelters or the streets, which can place a burden on health care systems. This study examined the effects of an intervention in which psychiatric clients fro...
Publication Date: 2013
Homelessness is an experience of being displaced. Once removed from their personal places, homeless people are barred access to healthy places in which to be. Health clinics for people who are experiencing homelessness offer an opportunity to create health-promoting places. In this study, we explore how place is experienced within a community health clinic for people who are experiencing homelessness. A critical ethnographic methodology was used....
Publication Date: 2012
Recognizing the importance of health-promoting relationships in engaging people who are experiencing homelessness in care, most research on health clinics for homeless persons has involved some recognition of client–provider relationships. However, what has been lacking is the inclusion of a critical analysis of the policy context in which relationships are enacted. In this paper, we question how client–provider relationships are enacted within t...
Publication Date: 2003
As part of a participatory action research project, we surveyed 300 psychiatric consumers/survivors from southwestern Ontario regarding their housing preferences and housing satisfaction. We found that, while 79% of the sample preferred independent living, 76% were living in some other type of setting (e.g., temporary shelter, supportive housing, sheltered care). Those living in temporary shelters reported the lowest levels of housing satisfactio...
Publication Date: 2011
Little is known about homelessness among Canadian Forces (CF) and Allied Forces (AF) Veterans. The purpose of this first national study was to understand the experience of homelessness among Veterans of the CF and AF, to discover the underlying causes of homelessness and to provide recommendations to improve services to Veterans. An interpretative phenomenological methodology guided the study to focus on understanding the experience of homelessne...
Publication Date: 2011
Many myths exist regarding mental illness and those with mental health issues. Under the auspices of a Community-University Research Alliance on Housing and Mental Health, a partnership between academics, community health and social service agencies and representatives of consumer-survivor groups, fourteen consumer-survivor and eight family member focus groups were held throughout Southwestern Ontario. Individual interviews were also conducted wi...
Publication Date: 2011
Purpose: This study examined whether differences exist among women with mental health issues who had either young, adult, or no children in relation to their individual and social vulnerabilities, health, and quality of life.
Methods: The design of this study was a secondary quantitative analysis of data extracted from a larger Canadian 5-year study focused on mental health and housing. This study’s sample included 234 female psychiatric consumer...