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Exploring Harm Reduction in Supportive Housing for Formerly Homeless Older Adults

BACKGROUND: Exclusionary care policy contributes to the growing number of older adults experiencing homelessness and complex health challenges including substance misuse. The aim of this study was to examine how harm reduction policy and practices are experienced and enacted for older adults with ho...

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Autores principales: Nixon, Lara L., Burns, Victoria F.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Canadian Geriatrics Society 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9427187/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36117739
http://dx.doi.org/10.5770/cgj.25.551
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author Nixon, Lara L.
Burns, Victoria F.
author_facet Nixon, Lara L.
Burns, Victoria F.
author_sort Nixon, Lara L.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Exclusionary care policy contributes to the growing number of older adults experiencing homelessness and complex health challenges including substance misuse. The aim of this study was to examine how harm reduction policy and practices are experienced and enacted for older adults with homeless histories and care staff in congregate supportive housing. METHODS: Drawing on harm reduction (HR) principles, Rhodes’ risk environment framework, and 15 semi-structured interviews (six residents, nine staff) at a 70-bed supportive housing facility in Western Canada, this qualitative constructivist grounded theory study aimed to determine: How is harm reduction experienced and enacted from the perspectives of older adults and their care staff? RESULTS: HR policy and practices helped residents to feel respected and a sense of belonging, due largely to staff’s understanding of structural vulnerability related to homelessness and their efforts to earn and maintain residents’ trust. Physical and program structures in the facility combined with the social environment to mitigate harms due to substance- and nonsubstance-related risk behaviours. CONCLUSION: HR policy and practices in supportive living empower care providers and older adults to work together to improve housing and health stability. Wider adoption of HR approaches is needed to meet the needs of a growing number of older people experiencing homelessness and substance use challenges.
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spelling pubmed-94271872022-09-15 Exploring Harm Reduction in Supportive Housing for Formerly Homeless Older Adults Nixon, Lara L. Burns, Victoria F. Can Geriatr J Original Research BACKGROUND: Exclusionary care policy contributes to the growing number of older adults experiencing homelessness and complex health challenges including substance misuse. The aim of this study was to examine how harm reduction policy and practices are experienced and enacted for older adults with homeless histories and care staff in congregate supportive housing. METHODS: Drawing on harm reduction (HR) principles, Rhodes’ risk environment framework, and 15 semi-structured interviews (six residents, nine staff) at a 70-bed supportive housing facility in Western Canada, this qualitative constructivist grounded theory study aimed to determine: How is harm reduction experienced and enacted from the perspectives of older adults and their care staff? RESULTS: HR policy and practices helped residents to feel respected and a sense of belonging, due largely to staff’s understanding of structural vulnerability related to homelessness and their efforts to earn and maintain residents’ trust. Physical and program structures in the facility combined with the social environment to mitigate harms due to substance- and nonsubstance-related risk behaviours. CONCLUSION: HR policy and practices in supportive living empower care providers and older adults to work together to improve housing and health stability. Wider adoption of HR approaches is needed to meet the needs of a growing number of older people experiencing homelessness and substance use challenges. Canadian Geriatrics Society 2022-09-02 /pmc/articles/PMC9427187/ /pubmed/36117739 http://dx.doi.org/10.5770/cgj.25.551 Text en © 2022 Author(s). Published by the Canadian Geriatrics Society https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivative license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use and distribution, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Research
Nixon, Lara L.
Burns, Victoria F.
Exploring Harm Reduction in Supportive Housing for Formerly Homeless Older Adults
title Exploring Harm Reduction in Supportive Housing for Formerly Homeless Older Adults
title_full Exploring Harm Reduction in Supportive Housing for Formerly Homeless Older Adults
title_fullStr Exploring Harm Reduction in Supportive Housing for Formerly Homeless Older Adults
title_full_unstemmed Exploring Harm Reduction in Supportive Housing for Formerly Homeless Older Adults
title_short Exploring Harm Reduction in Supportive Housing for Formerly Homeless Older Adults
title_sort exploring harm reduction in supportive housing for formerly homeless older adults
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9427187/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36117739
http://dx.doi.org/10.5770/cgj.25.551
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