Homelessness, Cancer and Health Literacy: A Scoping Review

Within Canada, the homeless have four times the cancer rates of the general population, lower rates of screening, later stage diagnosis, and poorer outcomes. In the United States, disparities in cancer burden also exist between the homeless and the housed. For example, lung cancer deaths occur at double the rate for the homeless compared with the housed. Cancer care is complex and requires many high-order health literacy skills to obtain and understand the information needed to make informed decisions about cancer care. A scoping review was conducted to summarize what is known about, the homeless, cancer and health literacy. The literature search yielded 1,124 articles. Of these, 33 articles met eligibility criteria. Results suggest that low health literacy may have a significant effect on access to cancer screening and care among the homeless population.