Health-related issues of people experiencing homelessness in Thailand: a scoping review

TL;DR

This scoping review explores the health issues faced by homeless people in Thailand, highlighting mental and physical health challenges and barriers to healthcare access.

Contribution

The study provides the first comprehensive overview of health-related research on homelessness in Thailand.

Findings

Homeless individuals in Thailand face mental health issues like depression and substance dependence.

Barriers to healthcare access include stigma, financial difficulties, and lack of health insurance.

Most existing studies are descriptive, with a need for more research on the mechanisms linking homelessness and health.

Abstract

Homelessness is a significant global challenge affecting people worldwide. In Thailand, the health-related issues of people experiencing homelessness have not been a major research focus. This scoping review aims to explore the scope of research on health-related issues among people experiencing homelessness in Thailand.

Eight databases (ACI, AMED, Embase, PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus, TCI, and Web of Science) were searched from inception of each database to August 2022. The search terms consisted of terms related to people experiencing homelessness in Thailand. Research articles published in Thai or English were included.

Of 186 articles, 167 were excluded during duplicate removal (n = 45), title and abstract screening (n = 106), seeking for full-text articles (n = 2), and full-text screening (n = 14). Nineteen articles were included for extraction and synthesis. Three topics (health status, causes of homelessness and effects of homelessness on health, healthcare and social services) were summarised. The included studies described mental health (e.g., depression, suicide, alcohol and drug dependence), physical health (e.g., poor self-hygiene, injuries, accidents), and health behaviours (e.g., alcohol drinking, substance use, unsafe sex). Social behaviours and health problems linked to homelessness, and several factors related to health and living conditions (e.g., stigma, discrimination) were reported. People experiencing homelessness had some barriers to access to healthcare and social services (e.g., health insurance, social welfare, financial difficulties).

The majority of studies on health-related issues in people experiencing homelessness in Thailand are descriptive studies. Future studies should focus on the interactions and mechanisms between homelessness and health.

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