Dataset Information

The role of gender in housing for individuals with severe mental illness: a qualitative study of the Canadian service context.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

This study was undertaken to examine the role of gender as it relates to access to housing among individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) in Canada.

Design

An exploratory, qualitative approach was used to assess the perspectives of Canadian housing experts. The focus of inquiry was on the role of gender and associated intersections (eg, ethnicity) in pathways to housing access and housing needs for individuals with SMI.

Setting

A purposeful sampling strategy was undertaken to access respondents across all Canadian geographic regions, with diversity across settings (urban and rural) and service sectors (hospital based and community based).

Participants

-29 individuals (6 men and 23 women) considered to be experts in a housing service context as it pertains to SMI were recruited. On average, participants had worked for 15 years in services that specialised in the support and delivery of housing services to people with SMI.

Measures

Semistructured interviews with participants focused on the role gender plays in access to housing in their specific context. Barriers and facilitators were examined as were intersections with other relevant factors, such as ethnicity, poverty and parenthood. Quantitative ratings of housing accessibility as a function of gender were also collected.

Results

Participants across geographic contexts described a lack of shelter facilities for women, leading to a reliance on exploitative circumstances. Other findings included a compounding of discrimination for ethnic minority women, the unique resource problems faced in rural contexts, and the difficulties that attend access to shelter and housing for parents with SMI.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that, along with a generally poor availability of housing stock for individuals with SMI, access problems are compounded by a lack of attention to the unique needs and illness trajectories that attend gender.

SUBMITTER: Kidd SA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3669714 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

The role of gender in housing for individuals with severe mental illness: a qualitative study of the Canadian service context.

Kidd Sean A SA Virdee Gursharan G Krupa Terry T Burnham Darrell D Hemingway Dawn D Margolin Indrani I Patterson Michelle M Zabkiewicz Denise D

BMJ open 20130620 6

<h4>Objective</h4>This study was undertaken to examine the role of gender as it relates to access to housing among individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) in Canada.<h4>Design</h4>An exploratory, qualitative approach was used to assess the perspectives of Canadian housing experts. The focus of inquiry was on the role of gender and associated intersections (eg, ethnicity) in pathways to housing access and housing needs for individuals with SMI.<h4>Setting</h4>A purposeful sampling strategy w ...[more]

PMID: 23794544

Similar Datasets

Project description:Within clinical psychiatry, recovery from severe mental illness (SMI) has classically been defined according to symptoms and function (service-based recovery). However, service-users have argued that recovery should be defined as the process of overcoming mental illness, regaining self-control and establishing a meaningful life (customer-based recovery). Here, we aimed to compare customer-based and service-based recovery and clarify their differential relationship with other constructs, namely needs and quality of life. The study was conducted in 101 patients suffering from SMI, recruited from a rural community mental health setting in Portugal. Customer-based recovery and function-related service-based recovery were assessed, respectively, using a shortened version of the Mental Health Recovery Measure (MHRM-20) and the Global Assessment of Functioning score. The Camberwell Assessment of Need scale was used to objectively assess needs, while subjective quality of life was measured with the TL-30s scale. Using multiple linear regression models, we found that the Global Assessment of Functioning score was incrementally predictive of the MHRM-20 score, when added to a model including only clinical and demographic factors, and that this model was further incremented by the score for quality of life. However, in an alternate model using the Global Assessment of Functioning score as the dependent variable, while the MHRM-20 score contributed significantly to the model when added to clinical and demographic factors, the model was not incremented by the score for quality of life. These results suggest that, while a more global concept of recovery from SMI may be assessed using measures for service-based and customer-based recovery, the latter, namely the MHRM-20, also provides information about subjective well-being. Pending confirmation of these findings in other populations, this instrument could thus be useful for comprehensive assessment of recovery and subjective well-being in patients suffering from SMI.

Dataset Information

The role of gender in housing for individuals with severe mental illness: a qualitative study of the Canadian service context.

Objective

Design

Setting

Participants

Measures

Results

Conclusions

Publications

The role of gender in housing for individuals with severe mental illness: a qualitative study of the Canadian service context.

Similar Datasets

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