Mental health of roofless and squatter population in north Catalonia

Introduction Homelessness is a phenomenon, which is hard to
limit, as it contemplates different situations including roofless and
squatters.
Objective To determine the presence of these homeless categories in the city of Girona and examine the prevalence of diagnosed
mental pathology and its principal socio-demographic characteristics.
Methods Transversal, observational and analytic study of the
population of roofless people and squatters. The registers of the outreach street work team, the local police and the public shelter were
used in order to detect the cases and their basic socio-demographic
characteristics. The clinical record of the mental health and addiction public network was accessed to determine their diagnosis.
Results During the 6 years of registers, 781 cases of people in
situation of roofless and squatters were detected. In total, 83.2%
(n = 630) of the cases were men and 16.8% (n = 131) women.
The average age was 44.8 (ED = 11.2) and no differences were
found regarding gender (Men = 45.3, ED = 11.0 vs. Women = 42.9,
ED = 12.2; t = 1.7, df = 405, P = 09). However differences were
found regarding origin (Immigrants = 42.2 years, ED = 10.3 vs.
Natives = 46.8 years, ED = 11.4; t = -4.2, df = 402, P < .001). A total of,
52.9% of the cases (n = 412) displayed diagnosed mental pathology
and 15.8 (n = 123), dual pathology.
Conclusion Mental pathology is more prevalent among this
typology of homeless people than in general population, as other
studies prove