The Prevalence of Mental Illness in Homeless People in Germany

Abstract

In Germany, the rate of mental illness requiring treatment is higher among the homeless than in the general population. The development and implementation of suitable care models for this marginalized and vulnerable group is essential if their elevated morbidity and mortality are to be reduced.

Prevalence of mental disorders among people who are homeless: an umbrella review

“…At the end of this stage, we removed 826 citations due to non-compliance with our criteria and evaluated full texts of the remaining 22 citations. Seven articles were excluded at this stage, and we retained 15 articles in this review (Ayano, Tesfaw, & Shumet, 2019;Ayano, Tsegay, Abraha, & Yohannes, 2019;Bassuk, Richard, & Tsertsvadze, 2015;Burra, Stergiopoulos, & Rourke, 2009;Depp, Vella, Orff, & Twamley, 2015;Duke & Searby, 2019;Embleton, Mwangi, Vreeman, Ayuku, & Braitstein, 2013;Ennis, Roy, & Topolovec-Vranic, 2015;Fazel, Khosla, Doll, & Geddes, 2008;Folsom & Jeste, 2002;Hodgson, Shelton, van den Bree, & Los, 2013;Parks, Stevens, & Spence, 2007;Schreiter et al, 2017;Smartt et al, 2019;Spence, Stevens, & Parks, 2004). The included articles consisted of seven meta-analytic reviews (Ayano, Tesfaw, et al, 2019;Ayano, Tsegay, et al, 2019;Bassuk et al, 2015;Depp et al, 2015;Embleton et al, 2013;Fazel et al, 2008;Schreiter et al, 2017), and eight non-quantitative reviews (Burra et al, 2009;Duke & Searby, 2019;Ennis et al, 2015;Folsom & Jeste, 2002;Hodgson et al, 2013;Parks et al, 2007;Smartt et al, 2019;Spence et al, 2004).…”

“…Most reviews (n = 10) included primary studies from multiple countries without specific geographic or economic focus, whereas three reviews emphasized on high-income countries (Bassuk et al, 2015;Fazel et al, 2008;Schreiter et al, 2017) and two reviews included studies from LMICs or resource-constrained contexts (Embleton et al, 2013;Smartt et al, 2019).…”

“…The number of primary studies included in the respective reviews ranged from 10 to 50. In addition, the evaluation of the methodological quality (please see Supplementary file) found seven reviews with medium quality (Embleton et al, 2013;Ennis et al, 2015;Folsom & Jeste, 2002;Hodgson et al, 2013;Parks et al, 2007;Schreiter et al, 2017;Spence et al, 2004) and eight reviews with high methodological quality (Ayano, Tesfaw, et al, 2019;Ayano, Tsegay, et al, 2019;Bassuk et al, 2015;Burra et al, 2009;Depp et al, 2015;Duke & Searby, 2019;Fazel et al, 2008;Smartt et al, 2019). The overall prevalence of schizophrenia ranged from 1% to 45%.…”

“…In many samples, racial and ethnic minorities were over-represented within the homeless groups compared to the general population (Spence et al, 2004). The study participants were recruited from multiple sources, including homeless shelters, social services, temporary residential facilities, downtown locations, suburban areas, healthcare facilities, community locations, and streets (Bassuk et al, 2015;Burra et al, 2009;Duke & Searby, 2019;Embleton et al, 2013;Ennis et al, 2015;Fazel et al, 2008;Folsom & Jeste, 2002;Parks et al, 2007;Schreiter et al, 2017;Smartt et al, 2019;Spence et al, 2004).…”

Towards Better Health: Improving Access to Health Care for Homeless People

“…Stefanie Schreiter et al found on the basis of their systematic review that the prevalence of mental disorders is notably higher in homeless people than in the general population (1). In homeless people, the prevalence of substance misuse related disorders is 60.9%-which is 21 times the rate seen in the general population.…”