They Built My Soul: A Qualitative Analysis of the Impacts of Home Repairs in Rural Tennessee

BACKGROUND: Housing is an important social determinant of health and substandard housing is linked to physical, mental, and social health problems. PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to qualitatively assess the impacts of repairs to substandard housing in rural East Tennessee through twenty-eight interviews. METHODS: Zoom was utilized for recording phone interviews in January–February 2021 and NVivo software was used for thematic analysis in May–July 2021. RESULTS: Themes that emerged included environmental risk reduction, impacts on physical health, impacts on mental health, impacts on financial well-being, and willingness to receive future assistance from service organizations. IMPLICATIONS: Further research is recommended to quantify impacts including effects on utilization of health care and community services, school and work attendance, and mental health impacts.