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Finding safety: a pilot study of managed alcohol program participants’ perceptions of housing and quality of life
BACKGROUND: There is a higher prevalence of alcohol use and severe alcohol dependence among homeless populations. The combination of alcohol use and lack of housing contributes to increased vulnerability to the harms of substance use including stigma, injury, illness, and death. Managed alcohol prog...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2016
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4860766/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27156564 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12954-016-0102-5 |
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author | Pauly, Bernadette (Bernie) Gray, Erin Perkin, Kathleen Chow, Clifton Vallance, Kate Krysowaty, Bonnie Stockwell, Timothy |
author_facet | Pauly, Bernadette (Bernie) Gray, Erin Perkin, Kathleen Chow, Clifton Vallance, Kate Krysowaty, Bonnie Stockwell, Timothy |
author_sort | Pauly, Bernadette (Bernie) |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: There is a higher prevalence of alcohol use and severe alcohol dependence among homeless populations. The combination of alcohol use and lack of housing contributes to increased vulnerability to the harms of substance use including stigma, injury, illness, and death. Managed alcohol programs (MAPs) administer prescribed doses of alcohol at regular intervals to people with severe and chronic alcohol dependence and homelessness. As a pilot for a larger national study of MAPs, we conducted an in-depth evaluation of one program in Ontario, Canada. In this paper, we report on housing and quality of life outcomes and experiences of the MAP participants and staff. METHODS: We conducted a pilot study using mixed methods. The sample consisted of 38 people enrolled in or eligible for entry into a MAP who completed a structured quantitative survey that included measures related to their housing and quality of life. All of the participants self-identified as Indigenous. In addition, we conducted 11 in-depth qualitative interviews with seven MAP residents and four program staff and analyzed the interviews using constant comparative analysis. The qualitative analysis was informed by Rhodes’ risk environment framework. RESULTS: When compared to controls, MAP participants were more likely to retain their housing and experienced increased safety and improved quality of life compared to life on the streets, in jails, shelters, or hospitals. They described the MAP as a safe place characterized by caring, respect, trust and a nonjudgmental approach with a sense of family and home as well as opportunities to reconnect with family members. CONCLUSIONS: The MAP was, as described by participants, a safer environment and a home with feelings of family and a sense of community that countered stigma, loss, and dislocation with potential for healing and recovery. The MAP environment characterized by caring, respect, trust, a sense of home, “feeling like family”, and the opportunities for family and cultural reconnections is consistent with First Nations principles for healing and recovery and principles of harm reduction. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4860766 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2016 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-48607662016-05-10 Finding safety: a pilot study of managed alcohol program participants’ perceptions of housing and quality of life Pauly, Bernadette (Bernie) Gray, Erin Perkin, Kathleen Chow, Clifton Vallance, Kate Krysowaty, Bonnie Stockwell, Timothy Harm Reduct J Research BACKGROUND: There is a higher prevalence of alcohol use and severe alcohol dependence among homeless populations. The combination of alcohol use and lack of housing contributes to increased vulnerability to the harms of substance use including stigma, injury, illness, and death. Managed alcohol programs (MAPs) administer prescribed doses of alcohol at regular intervals to people with severe and chronic alcohol dependence and homelessness. As a pilot for a larger national study of MAPs, we conducted an in-depth evaluation of one program in Ontario, Canada. In this paper, we report on housing and quality of life outcomes and experiences of the MAP participants and staff. METHODS: We conducted a pilot study using mixed methods. The sample consisted of 38 people enrolled in or eligible for entry into a MAP who completed a structured quantitative survey that included measures related to their housing and quality of life. All of the participants self-identified as Indigenous. In addition, we conducted 11 in-depth qualitative interviews with seven MAP residents and four program staff and analyzed the interviews using constant comparative analysis. The qualitative analysis was informed by Rhodes’ risk environment framework. RESULTS: When compared to controls, MAP participants were more likely to retain their housing and experienced increased safety and improved quality of life compared to life on the streets, in jails, shelters, or hospitals. They described the MAP as a safe place characterized by caring, respect, trust and a nonjudgmental approach with a sense of family and home as well as opportunities to reconnect with family members. CONCLUSIONS: The MAP was, as described by participants, a safer environment and a home with feelings of family and a sense of community that countered stigma, loss, and dislocation with potential for healing and recovery. The MAP environment characterized by caring, respect, trust, a sense of home, “feeling like family”, and the opportunities for family and cultural reconnections is consistent with First Nations principles for healing and recovery and principles of harm reduction. BioMed Central 2016-05-09 /pmc/articles/PMC4860766/ /pubmed/27156564 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12954-016-0102-5 Text en © Pauly et al. 2016 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
spellingShingle | Research Pauly, Bernadette (Bernie) Gray, Erin Perkin, Kathleen Chow, Clifton Vallance, Kate Krysowaty, Bonnie Stockwell, Timothy Finding safety: a pilot study of managed alcohol program participants’ perceptions of housing and quality of life |
title | Finding safety: a pilot study of managed alcohol program participants’ perceptions of housing and quality of life |
title_full | Finding safety: a pilot study of managed alcohol program participants’ perceptions of housing and quality of life |
title_fullStr | Finding safety: a pilot study of managed alcohol program participants’ perceptions of housing and quality of life |
title_full_unstemmed | Finding safety: a pilot study of managed alcohol program participants’ perceptions of housing and quality of life |
title_short | Finding safety: a pilot study of managed alcohol program participants’ perceptions of housing and quality of life |
title_sort | finding safety: a pilot study of managed alcohol program participants’ perceptions of housing and quality of life |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4860766/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27156564 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12954-016-0102-5 |
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