Hispanic health disparities and housing: Comparing measured and self-reported health metrics among housed and homeless Latin individuals
Ernesto Castañeda, Blaine Smith, Emma Vetter
Abstract
= 1152) were surveyed. Demographic, health, and housing data were collected. We contribute to the literature by providing detailed health indicators for homeless Hispanics. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine health disparities between housed and homeless Hispanics. Bivariate analysis, as well as data coded from interviews, indicated that homeless Hispanics were more likely to have barriers to care, less likely to have health insurance, slightly more likely than housed Hispanics to experience mental illness, alcoholism, and addiction, and more likely to be underdiagnosed for health problems, including hypertension. This study shows how certain traditional methods for collecting health data, including self-rated health and reported diagnoses, can be ineffective at revealing health disparities. This paper calls for innovative, mixed-methods approaches to understand the social and structural determinants of health for marginalized populations.