Anita Palepu|Anne M. Gadermann|Anita M. Hubley|Susan Farrell|Evie Gogosis|Tim Aubry|Stephen W. Hwang
Substance Use and Access to Health Care and Addiction Treatment among Homeless and Vulnerably Housed Persons in Three Canadian Cities
Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences|University of British Columbia|Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences|University of British Columbia|University of British Columbia|Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre|University of Ottawa|St. Michael's Hospital|University of Ottawa|St. Michael's Hospital|University of Toronto
examined prevalence substance use disorders among homeless vulnerably housed persons three canadian cities association unmet health care needs access addiction treatment using baseline data health housing transition studyin 2009 1191 homeless vulnerably housed persons recruited vancouver toronto ottawa canada interviewer administered questionnaires collected data sociodemographics housing history chronic health conditions mental health diagnoses problematic drug use dast106 problematic alcohol use audit20 unmet physical mental health care needs addiction treatment past 12 months three multiple logistic regression models fit examine independent association substance use unmet physical health care need unmet mental health care need addiction treatmentsubstance use highly prevalent half 53 screening positive dast10 38 screening positive audit problematic drug use 29 problematic alcohol use lower 16 7 problematic drug alcohol use multiple regression models unmet need found problematic drug use independently associated unmet physical adjusted odds ratio aor 195 95 confidence interval ci 143264 unmet mental aor 306 95 ci 217430 health care needs problematic alcohol use associated unmet health care needs among problematic substance use problematic drug use associated greater likelihood accessing addiction treatment compared problematic alcohol use alone aor 232 95 ci 118454problematic drug use among homeless vulnerably housed individuals associated unmet health care needs accessing addiction treatment strategies provide comprehensive health services including addiction treatment developed integrated within community supported models care