Sociodemographic and Economic Characteristics of a Homeless Community in Delhi, India

Abstract

Introduction: Homeless people are unable to get and maintain regular, safe, and sound houses or lack of fixed, usual and adequate night-time residence. Urban homeless people constitute the most marginalized and invisible category.Objective: To study the sociodemographic and economic characteristics of homeless living at one such "night shelter" in Delhi. Materials and Methods:In a conveniently chosen "night shelter" for homeless, 48 families were interviewed. Data was collected for 258 individuals. Data about sociodemographic characteristics, income, any addiction and self-reported health problems was collected. Results:The average number of family members was 5.38. 51.94% participants were adult. Dependency ratio was 88.32%. 91.8% of adult subjects were illiterate. Illiteracy was more common among adult females. 67.74% children were out of school with a higher proportion of females among these children (53.66%). 18.55% children were working to support their family income. Average daily per capita family income was Rs. 113.02 94. 2% including children were addicted to a tobacco-containing dentifrice. Addiction to tobacco or alcohol was common among adults of both sexes (63%). Conclusion:We observed that women and children form a sizable number among the homeless. Very little is known about the characteristics of this vulnerable population, which therefore requires urgent attention. Keywords IntroductionHomelessness is a condition in which people, especially in urban areas, do not have a regular and secure dwelling. Homeless people are unable to get and maintain regular, safe, and sound houses or lack a fixed, usual and adequate night-time residence.1 The term homeless includes people whose primary night-time residence is a shelter at adhoc housing situation. Street-dwelling people and people spending their time in unoccupied buildings are also termed homeless.1 Recently, it is being increasingly recognized that population residing in temporary, insecure or physically ruined sub-standard accommodation is also considered as homeless. 1The legal definition of homeless varies from country to country.1 United Nations defines homeless households as those without shelter falling in the scope of living quarters.

Adaptación transcultural y validación del Safety Attitudes Questionnaire Short Form (SAQ-SF) en el ámbito quirúrgico español e italiano. Análisis de la cultura de seguridad del paciente por personal sanitario de quirófano

“…En general, la validez de un instrumento se puede establecer para 4 dimensiones: validez aparente, validez de contenido, validez de criterio y validez de constructo (Figura 9), y puede evaluarse para todas o para alguna de ellas [156, 167,182,183].…”

“…Se trata de una visión general, que a menudo es una primera impresión, sin entrar en demasiados detalles. Es una evaluación subjetiva y, por lo tanto, no hay normas con respecto a cómo se debe evaluar, y no puede ser cuantificada [182].…”

“…Viene demostrada a través de la consistencia y estabilidad de sus medidas, y por la consistencia interna y homogeneidad de sus ítems y dimensiones [182].…”

“…Mientras la validez aparente y la validez de contenido se basan en la lógica subjetiva para evaluar la validez de un instrumento, la validez de criterio se basa en un enfoque empírico [182].…”

“…Se trata de una visión general, que a menudo es una primera impresión, sin entrar en demasiados detalles. Es una evaluación subjetiva y, por lo tanto, no hay normas con respecto a cómo se debe evaluar, y no puede ser cuantificada [182].Medir la validez aparente es importante porque la aceptación de una escala por varias personas da consistencia a la hora de utilizarla [138]. …”