 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Maureen Crane, RGN, RMN, MSc, PhD, Anthony M Warnes, BSc, PhD, AcSS, and Ruby Fernandez Fu, BA. Sheffield Institute for Studies on Ageing, University of Sheffield, UK, Community Sciences Centre, Northern General Hospital, Sheffield S5 7AU, United Kingdom, (44)114 271 5773, m.a.crane@sheffield.ac.uk
The paper introduces a set from a comparative study of the causes of homelessness among newly homeless older people that was conducted in Melbourne (Australia), Boston, Massachusetts, and England by a partnership of researchers and homelessness service-provider organisations. It aims to estimate the relative contributions to homelessness of: (i) structural and socio-economic conditions, e.g. low wages, inadequate social security payments, and insufficient low-cost rental housing; (ii) health and welfare service organisation and delivery attributes, e.g. insufficient help for people with mental health problems, or failure to respond to rent arrears; and (iii) personal problems and limitations, e.g. marital breakdown, poor budgeting skills, or alcohol problems. National, regional (state) and city-specific policies and services have been reviewed, and information collected from 125 newly homeless people aged 50+ years (and case-workers) in each country about the problems leading to homelessness and service contacts. (Interviews are timetabled for completion by May 2003). A 'scoring system' of the factors contributing to homelessness has been developed. The validity and reliability of the scores will be reported. This first presentation describes the partnership, outlines the study's aims, design and execution, and discusses the main methodological issues in conducting comparative homelessness research in three countries. Later presentations will describe the findings from the three countries, and from the comparative analyses. The study promises to make an original contribution to the understanding of the causes of homelessness, and to the debate about its prevention.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Homeless, International
Related Web page: www.shef.ac.uk
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: n.a.
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.