Impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of men experiencing homelessness: A cross-sectional study in Osaka, Japan

• Published in: PloS one 2023-10, Vol.18 (10), p.e0292377-e0292377
• Main Authors: Michinaka, Masahiro, Sai, Akira, Yamauchi, Taro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Age groups; Anxiety; Anxiety disorders; Biology and Life Sciences; Care and treatment; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Cross-sectional studies; Demographic change; Economic conditions; Employment; Fear; Fear & phobias; Health aspects; Health research; Health risks; Health services; Health surveys; Homeless people; Homeless persons; Homelessness; Infections; Infectious diseases; Japan; Likert scale; Manual workers; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mens health; Mental depression; Mental health; Mental health services; Pandemics; People and Places; Psychiatric services; Psychological aspects; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Risk; Risk perception; Signs and symptoms; Social Sciences; Sociodemographics; Statistical analysis; Surveys; Symptoms; Unemployment; Variables; Viral diseases; Welfare
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0292377

The novel coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) pandemic has negatively impacted not only our physical health but also mental health, including increasing depressive and anxiety symptoms. In particular, socially and physically vulnerable populations, such as people experiencing homelessness (PEH), may be more likely to have their mental health worsened by the pandemic due to having more difficulty meeting basic human needs. Therefore, this study aims to assess the impact of COVID-19 on mental health of the homeless in Japan by evaluating depressive and anxiety symptoms and identifying the associated factors particularly, sociodemographic variables as age, employment status and the fear and perceived risk of COVID-19 infection. A cross-sectional interview survey among 158 PEH in Osaka Prefecture was conducted from April to May 2022. The survey included sociodemographic questions and history and perceived risk of infection with COVID-19. Depressive symptoms were measured using the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and anxiety symptoms using the seven-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), and the fear of COVID-19 using the seven-item Fear of New Coronavirus Scale (FCV-19S). In this study, the prevalence of depression (PHQ-9≥10) was 38.6%, anxiety disorder (GAD≥10) was 19.0%, and high fear of COVID-19 (FCV-19S≥19) was 28.5%. Univariate logistic regression analysis revealed that PEH in younger age groups (18–34 years), and with joblessness, higher perceived infection risk, and higher fear of COVID-19 were more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety (p