Homelessness and mental illness : Experience of supportive or restrictive factors

Background: Homeless persons who suffer of mental illness are one group which is marginalized worldwide. Homeless people have a fragmentary contact with healthcare and many of those who have drug abuse problems and mental illness are still undiagnosed. Still, this is not their only issue when various state agencies argue about who will take responsibility for this persons. Aim: To describe the factors that are perceived supportive or restrictive by homeless people with mental illness. Method: The material has been gathered via systematic and unsystematic searches and the study was designed as a literature review. The articles which responded to the aim of this study were included and it resulted in twelve articles. Results: The approach and attitudes of the healthcare workers is experienced negatively by the homeless persons because of their discrimination and stigmatization. Experiences suck as lack of coordination and cooperation between healthcare, lack of health insurance, social isolation and poor paid jobs or no jobs at all are also common. Still, there were some positive experience such as healthcare workers and staff who listened, care and implicated themselves in the homeless person’s problems and situation, they gave them presents or made jokes. Conclusion: The healthcare workers needs knowledge about homeless people’s experience of various factors that promote or sets limits in promoting health. This knowledge is needed in order to improve the healthcare workers approach