Assessing the Need for a Medical Respite: Perceptions of Service Providers and Homeless Persons

Abstract

For homeless persons, posthospitalization care is increasingly provided in formal medical respite programs, and their success is now reported in the literature. However, there is a dearth of literature on posthospitalization transitional care for homeless persons in the absence of a respite program. Through this formative study, we sought to understand the process of securing posthospitalization care in the absence of a formal homeless medical respite. Results demonstrated a de facto patchwork respite process that has emerged. We describe both human and monetary costs associated with patchwork respite and demonstrate opportunities for improvement in homeless health care transitions.

Homeless persons' experiences of health‐ and social care: A systematic integrative review

“…Twenty‐two studies relevant to our aim and research questions were included in the review, 11 quantitative (Asmoredjo, Beijersbergen, & Wolf, ; Baggett, O'Connell, Singer, & Rigotti, ; Hwang et al, ; Jenkins & Parylo, ; Kertesz et al, ; van Laere, de Wit, & Klazinga, ; Robbins, Wenger, Lorvick, Shiboski, & Kral, ; Uddin et al, ; Vuillermoz, Vandentorren, Brondeel, & Chauvin, ; Whelan et al, ; Zur & Jones, ), and 11 qualitative (Biederman, Gamble, Manson, & Taylor, ; Biederman, Nichols, & Lindsey, ; Bungay, ; Corrigan, Pickett, Kraus, Burks, & Schmidt, ; Gültekin, Brush, Baiardi, Kirk, & VanMaldeghem, ; Kryda & Compton, ; Martins, ; McLeod & Walsh, ; Nickasch & Marnocha, ; Rae & Rees, ; Voronka et al, ). We found no studies that described economic costs in conjunction with needs of health‐ and social care in persons experiencing homelessness.…”

“…To summarise, 11 studies were conducted in the United States (50%) (Baggett et al, ; Biederman et al, , ; Corrigan et al, ; Gültekin et al, ; Kertesz et al, ; Kryda & Compton, ; Martins, ; Nickasch & Marnocha, ; Robbins et al, ; Zur & Jones, ), five in Canada (23%) (Bungay, ; Hwang et al, ; McLeod & Walsh, ; Voronka et al, ; Whelan et al, ), two in the Netherlands (9%) (Asmoredjo et al, ; van Laere et al, ), two in the United Kingdom (9%) (Jenkins & Parylo, ; Rae & Rees, ), one in Bangladesh (4.5%) (Uddin et al, ) and one in France (4.5%) (Vuillermoz et al, ). The population foci in 12 studies (55%) were persons experiencing homelessness in general (Asmoredjo et al, ; Baggett et al, ; Biederman et al, ; Hwang et al, ; Kertesz et al, ; Kryda & Compton, ; van Laere et al, ; Martins, ; Nickasch & Marnocha, ; Rae & Rees, ; Uddin et al, ; Voronka et al, ), whereas foci in three studies, respectively, were family homelessness (14%) (Gültekin et al, ; Jenkins & Parylo, ; Vuillermoz et al, ) and homelessness among women (14%) (Biederman et al, ; Bungay, ; McLeod & Walsh, ). Other population foci (17%) were: African Americans with mental illness experiencing homelessness (Corrigan et al, ), injection drug users experiencing homelessness (Robbins et al, ), persons visiting a mobile health unit experiencing homelessness (Whelan et al, ) and persons visiting federally qualified health centres in the USA experiencing homelessness (Zur & Jones, ).…”

“…In five studies (23%), the samples consisted of only women (Biederman et al, ; Bungay, ; Gültekin et al, ; McLeod & Walsh, ; Vuillermoz et al, ), whereas Biederman et al () did not report the proportion of females/males that participated in their study. Numbers of study participants in included studies ranged between 6 (Biederman et al, ) and 1,191 (Hwang et al, ). Participants’ age was not reported in five studies (Biederman et al, ; Corrigan et al, ; Jenkins & Parylo, ; Martins, ; Voronka et al, ).…”

“…Numbers of study participants in included studies ranged between 6 (Biederman et al, ) and 1,191 (Hwang et al, ). Participants’ age was not reported in five studies (Biederman et al, ; Corrigan et al, ; Jenkins & Parylo, ; Martins, ; Voronka et al, ). Three studies used peer interviewing (participatory research) (Corrigan et al, ; Gültekin et al, ; Voronka et al, ).…”

“…Struggling to manage daily life without laundry facilities or space for managing personal hygiene practices were described (Corrigan et al, ; Gültekin et al, ; van Laere et al, ; McLeod & Walsh, ; Nickasch & Marnocha, ; Uddin et al, ). Financial struggles and lack of money were other reasons for unmet basic human needs (Baggett et al, ; Biederman et al, ; van Laere et al, ; Martins, ; Nickasch & Marnocha, ; Rae & Rees, ; Uddin et al, ; Zur & Jones, ).…”