Health Behaviour Research Collaborative, School of Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Health and Medicine, University of Newcastle, NSW, Callaghan, Australia.
Priority Research Centre for Health Behaviour, Faculty of Health and Medicine, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2022 Mar 24;22(1):582. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-12977-5.
Social housing provides homes for some of the most vulnerable in society. Those in social housing often have complex issues that may require support. Limited research has examined the unmet needs of those living in social housing from the tenant perspective. This exploratory study aimed to embark on filling this gap.
A cross-sectional study survey of adult social housing tenants in New South Wales, Australia. Consenting tenants completed a survey asking about their support needs across five domains: transport, employment and financial stress; housing and safety; health and health behaviour; access to services; and control over one's life. Negative binomial regression analysis was used to examine associations between the mean number of support needs and characteristics.
Of the 104 tenants invited, 101 agreed to participate (97%) of which 100 completed the survey. Paying unexpected bills' (43%), feeling sad or anxious (40%), feelings of anger or frustration (34%), and memory or concentration problems (33%) were the most prevalent reported needs. Other needs included antisocial behaviour from neighbours (31%) and having control in the direction your life is taking (27%). Seventy-five percent of tenants reported at least one need, with an average of seven needs across the sample (median 5.5, range 0-24). Tenants who identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander had a higher number of needs compared to other tenants (RR 1.87 95% CI 1.08 to 3.35).
More research describing tenant wellbeing needs is required to guide initiatives improving tenant wellbeing. Development of a standardised tool to measure and prioritise tenant wellbeing needs would be beneficial. There is a need for well-controlled research to establish the potential effectiveness and cost effectiveness of initiatives implemented at the policy or housing provider level. Future research must consider the multifaceted needs of this population. Further, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are generally overrepresented in social housing in Australia, and in this study Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tenants reported a higher number of needs compared to non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tenants. Given this, future research should ensure measurement tools or strategy initiatives are culturally sensitive and appropriate, and are developed in collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
社会住房为社会上一些最脆弱的人提供了住所。住在社会住房里的人往往有复杂的问题，可能需要得到支持。有限的研究从租户的角度考察了居住在社会住房中的人的未满足需求。这项探索性研究旨在填补这一空白。
对澳大利亚新南威尔士州成年社会住房租户进行横断面研究调查。同意参与的租户填写了一份调查问卷，询问他们在五个领域的支持需求：交通、就业和经济压力；住房和安全；健康和健康行为；获得服务；以及对自己生活的控制。采用负二项回归分析方法研究了支持需求均值与特征之间的关系。
在邀请的 104 位租户中，有 101 位同意参加（97%），其中 100 位完成了调查。报告最多的需求包括：支付意外账单（43%）、感到悲伤或焦虑（40%）、感到愤怒或沮丧（34%）以及记忆力或注意力问题（33%）。其他需求包括来自邻居的反社会行为（31%）和对生活方向的控制感（27%）。75%的租户报告至少有一项需求，样本平均有七项需求（中位数为 5.5，范围为 0-24）。与其他租户相比，自认为是土著或托雷斯海峡岛民的租户需求更多（RR 1.87，95%CI 1.08-3.35）。
需要进一步研究描述租户幸福感需求，以指导改善租户幸福感的举措。开发一种标准化工具来衡量和优先考虑租户的幸福感需求将是有益的。需要进行精心控制的研究，以确定在政策或住房提供者层面实施的举措的潜在有效性和成本效益。未来的研究必须考虑到这一人群的多方面需求。此外，澳大利亚的社会住房中，土著和托雷斯海峡岛民通常占多数，在这项研究中，与非土著和托雷斯海峡岛民租户相比，土著和托雷斯海峡岛民租户报告的需求更多。因此，未来的研究应确保测量工具或战略举措具有文化敏感性和适当性，并与土著和托雷斯海峡岛民社区合作制定。
