Perceptions of health status among women and men in an urban homeless population

Abstract

The rate of homelessness in Cincinnati, Ohio, has more than doubled in size since 1986. Currently there are an estimated 25,000 homeless persons living in the city. Recent surveys indicate that 58% of Cincinnati's homeless people report having no available source of healthcare and use hospital emergency rooms as their primary source of healthcare. To make matters worse, many homeless people avoid available health-care services due to perceptions of the disrespect, rudeness and/or the insensitivity of health-care workers. This study used the Health Perceptions Questionnaire (HPQ) (Ware, 1976) to measure beliefs about prior, current, and future health status in a population of 100 (N = 100) homeless persons. Within this culturally and socially diverse sample, the average score on the General Health Rating Index was 69.73 on a scale of 22-110. Scores on the Prior Health and Resistance to Illness subscales differed significantly by gender, with males having higher mean scores than did females. In addition, scores on the Health Worry subscale differed according to the homeless persons' reported source of healthcare.