Associations of resilience with quality of life levels in adults experiencing homelessness and mental illness: a longitudinal study

Abstract

Background Homelessness constitutes a traumatic period that adversely impacts health and quality of life outcomes. The potential mitigating effects of resilience on quality of life levels in people experiencing homelessness are underresearched. This study assesses the longitudinal associations between resilience and quality of life scores among adults experiencing homelessness and mental illness. Methods This study is a secondary analysis of longitudinal data collected over 6 years from participants (N = 575) of the At Home/Chez Soi study on Housing First, Toronto site. Repeatedly measured resilience scores are the primary exposure and repeatedly measured global quality of life scores and mental health-specific quality of life scores are the primary outcomes. Mixed effect models were used to assess the association between the exposures and the outcomes. Results The majority of the participants were men (69.2%) and were on average 40.4 (± 11.8) years old at baseline. The average resilience score ranged between 5.00 to 5.62 over 8 data collection points across the 6-year follow-up period. After adjusting for gender, age, ethno-racial background, Housing First intervention, physical and mental comorbidities, and lifetime homelessness, higher resilience scores were positively associated with higher Global quality of life (Adjusted-coefficient: 0.23, 95% CI 0.19–0.27) and mental health-related quality of life values (Adjusted-coefficient: 4.15, 95% CI 3.35–4.95). Conclusion In homeless adults with mental illness, higher resilience levels were positively associated with higher global and mental health related quality of life values. Further interventions and services aimed to enhance resilience mechanisms and strategies are warranted to enhance better mental health and quality of life outcomes of this population group. Trial registration At Home/Chez Soi trial was registered with ISRCTN, ISRCTN42520374. Registered 18 September 2009, http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN42520374.

Academic stress, COVID‐19 anxiety, and quality of life among nursing students: The mediating role of resilience

“…Thus, resilience is a valuable resource that can help patients with depression and other psychiatric conditions achieve therapeutic success (Devi et al., 2021 ; Zhang et al., 2020 ). Further supporting the findings of our study, stronger resilience was observed among homeless individuals with mental illnesses, and this was positively associated with QoL in terms of higher global mental health indicators (Mejia‐Lancheros et al., 2021 ).…”

“…The literature on resilience corroborates our findings, stating that the more stress a person is exposed to, or the longer they are exposed to it, the less resilient they become (Bozdağ & Ergün, 2021 ). In terms of QoL, the resilience of nursing faculty and students (Keener et al., 2021 ) as well as homeless adults with mental illness (Mejia‐Lancheros et al., 2021 ) is much higher. Accordingly, resilience is strongly linked to QoL (Zhang et al., 2020 ).…”

Association of childhood trauma, and resilience, with quality of life in patients seeking treatment at a psychiatry outpatient: A cross-sectional study from Nepal

“…Resilience is, therefore, a key component in trauma research [ 25 ] although there are discussions on the complex and multisystemic nature of resilience [ 24 , 26 ]. Individuals who are resilient are said to have better mental health profiles [ 24 , 27 ], including better quality of life.…”

“…It therefore, is a multidimensional construct of health that goes beyond clinical diagnoses. Studies suggest that there is relationship between resilience and quality of life [ 27 ] but the nature of the relation between the two has not been studied extensively, especially in context of trauma and childhood trauma.…”

Moderating Effect of Help-Seeking in the Relationship between Religiosity and Dispositional Gratitude among Polish Homeless Adults: A Brief Report

“…Homelessness is widely considered as an individual [1][2][3], social [3][4][5][6], economic [7,8], and political [9] problem that affects the functioning of both individuals and whole of societies. Gu et al [10] report that more than 150 million people worldwide are homeless.…”