Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Homeless women with mental illness are a highly vulnerable population struggling with poverty, violence and trauma, and are often disengaged from the current system of care. The realities of homeless women's lives present multiple barriers to the access and uptake of essential services, which can compound health risks and compromise health and mental health outcomes. This is important, as the number of homeless women has increased more than men in the last ten years in Vancouver. This research will explore the impact of violence and trauma among a cohort of homeless women with mental illness. The research will draw from data collected at the Vancouver site of the At Home/Chez Soi National Research Demonstration project - a randomised controlled trial investigating mental health and homelessness over two years, funded by the Mental Health Commission of Canada. Early findings indicate high rates of post-traumatic stress (40%) and partner violence (65%) among the women, and significantly greater incidents of sexual violence and violent victimization. Many women have attributed these experiences as directly related to becoming homeless. Utilising the statistical method of latent cluster analysis, this project will identify patterns of cumulative violence, trauma and abuse among participants, and link to trajectories of homeless women's service utilisation, residential stability and health-related outcomes. It is expected that women with more extensive and severe histories of violence and trauma will be less engaged with essential health care services and supports, resulting in compromised housing, health and mental health outcomes. Given the magnitude of the preventable health and social costs of homelessness, this research will generate gender-specific evidence to inform Canadian housing and health-related policy and address inequities in health among a highly disadvantaged, and currently underserved, group of women.