Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Nov;26(11):2185-2191.
doi: 10.1007/s10995-022-03492-5. Epub 2022 Sep 17.

Housing Stability and Access to General Healthcare and Reproductive Healthcare Among Women in Ohio

Robert B Hood  1 , Abigail N Turner  2 , Mikaela Smith  3 , Payal Chakraborty  3 , Shibani Chettri  3 , Danielle Bessett  4 , Alison H Norris  3 , Maria F Gallo  3
Affiliations

Housing Stability and Access to General Healthcare and Reproductive Healthcare Among Women in Ohio

Robert B Hood et al. Matern Child Health J. 2022 Nov.

Abstract

Background: The relationship between housing instability and reproductive healthcare is understudied. We examined the association between housing insecurity and access and utilization of general healthcare, contraceptive healthcare, and abortion care.

Methods: Using data from a population-representative survey of adult reproductive-age Ohio women (N = 2,529), we assessed housing insecurity (not paying rent/mortgage on time in the past year). We examined associations between housing insecurity and the following outcomes: (1) not being able to access general healthcare in the past year; (2) experiencing delays or difficulties in accessing contraceptive healthcare in the past year; and (3) ever having an abortion. We used unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression models. We selected confounders a priori and included age, socioeconomic status, and healthcare status.

Results: Overall, 10.6% of Ohio women of adult reproductive age experienced housing insecurity. Approximately 27.5% of respondents were not able to access general healthcare and 10.4% experienced delays or difficulties in accessing contraceptive care. Compared to housing-secure respondents, housing-insecure women were less able to access general healthcare (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]:2.16; 95% confidence interval [CI]:1.45-3.23) and more likely to experience delays or difficulties when accessing contraceptive care (aOR:1.74; 95% CI:1.00-3.04). Insecure housing was not statistically associated with ever having an abortion (aOR:1.76; 95% CI:0.93-3.34).

Conclusions: In this study, recent housing insecurity was associated with poorer access to general and contraceptive healthcare. Studies utilizing multidimensional measures of housing insecurity and other material insecurity measures are needed to further explore the relationship between material insecurity and access to general and contraceptive care.

Keywords: Abortion; Contraceptive healthcare; General healthcare; Housing insecurity; Housing transition.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None.

References

    1. Andridge RR, Little RJ. A Review of Hot Deck Imputation for Survey Non-response. International Statistical Review. 2010;78(1):40–64. doi: 10.1111/j.1751-5823.2010.00103.x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Appleby L, Desai P. Residential instability: a perspective on system imbalance. American Journal Of Orthopsychiatry. 1987;57(4):515–524. doi: 10.1111/j.1939-0025.1987.tb03567.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bassuk EL, Weinreb LF, Buckner JC, Browne A, Salomon A, Bassuk SS. The characteristics and needs of sheltered homeless and low-income housed mothers. Journal Of The American Medical Association. 1996;276(8):640–646. doi: 10.1001/jama.1996.03540080062031. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Baxter, A. J., Tweed, E. J., Katikireddi, S. V., & Thomson, H. (2019). Effects of Housing First approaches on health and well-being of adults who are homeless or at risk of homelessness: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 73, 379–387. 10.1136/jech-2018-210981 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Berkowitz SA, Meigs JB, DeWalt D, Seligman HK, Barnard LS, Bright OJ, Wexler DJ. Material need insecurities, control of diabetes mellitus, and use of health care resources: results of the Measuring Economic Insecurity in Diabetes study. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2015;175(2):257–265. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.6888. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Substances

LinkOut - more resources