Subjective health status of single homeless people in Sheffield

A census of single homeless people was carried out over a single 12-hour period in Sheffield. Places of residence of homeless people were identified by local workers with homeless people. Participants completed a questionnaire designed to provide data relating to their demography, employment history, contact with welfare agencies, social status, prison history, past and family medical history, contact with health services, perceived health status as measured by the Nottingham Health Profile, and anxiety and depression measured using the Foulds Delusions Symptoms States Inventory/State of Anxiety and Depression DSSI/sAD. Three hundred and seventy-nine single homeless individuals were contacted. Reliable data were available on 340. The population was heterogeneous with respect to perceived health status, but it was significantly worse than a standard London population on all dimensions. Those with a self-reported history of psychiatric illness had a significantly worse perceived health status on all dimensions than those without such a history. Those reporting a history of admission to psychiatric hospital had a significantly worse status in two dimensions: mobility, reflecting greater age, and more significantly social isolation, consistent with findings in other de-institutionalised populations. Anxiety and depression, measured using the Foulds sAD scale, was raised in all groups in the study, but did not differentiate between those with and without a self-reported psychiatric history, or between those with and without a self-reported history of psychiatric admission. This suggests that these symptoms are a result rather than a cause of homelessness, and that a broad social solution to mental illness in homeless people is needed in addition to specific medical interventions.