Resumo

STONEHOUSE, Joanelle; GROBLER, Gerhard; BHOORA, Urvisha  e  JANSE VAN RENSBURG, Michelle N.S.. Mental health symptoms among homeless shelter residents during COVID-19 lockdown in Tshwane, South Africa. Afr. j. prim. health care fam. med. (Online) [online]. 2023, vol.15, n.1, pp.1-8. ISSN 2071-2936.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/phcfm.v15i1.3730.

BACKGROUND: In order to contain the spread of COVID-19 in South Africa during the national state of emergency, the Gauteng Department of Social Development established temporary shelters and activated existing facilities to provide basic needs to street-homeless people in Tshwane, which facilitated primary health care service-delivery to this community. AIM: This study aimed to determine and analyse the prevalence of mental health symptoms and demographic characteristics among street-homeless people living in Tshwane's shelters during lockdown. SETTING: Homeless shelters set up in Tshwane during level 5 of the COVID-19 lockdown in South Africa. METHODS: A cross-sectional, analytical study was conducted using a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)-based questionnaire that looked at 13 mental health symptom domains. RESULTS: Presence of moderate-to-severe symptoms were reported among the 295 participants as follows: substance use 202 (68%), anxiety 156 (53%), personality functioning 132 (44%), depression 85 (29%), sleep problems 77 (26%), somatic symptoms 69 (23%), anger 62 (21%), repetitive thoughts and behaviours 60 (20%), dissociation 55 (19%), mania 54 (18%), suicidal ideation 36 (12%), memory 33 (11%) and psychosis 23 (8%). CONCLUSION: A high burden of mental health symptoms was identified. Community-oriented and person-centred health services with clear care-coordination pathways are required to understand and overcome the barriers street-homeless people face in accessing health and social services. CONTRIBUTION: This study determined the prevalence of mental health symptoms within the street-based population in Tshwane, which has not previously been studied.

Palavras-chave : mental health; homelessness; temporary shelters; COVID-19 lockdown; substance use; opioid withdrawal.

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