Fear of COVID-19 among homeless individuals in Germany in mid-2021.
Front Public Health
; 10: 915965, 2022.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2022945
ABSTRACT
Aims:
To investigate the prevalence and the correlates of fear of COVID-19 among homeless individuals.Methods:
We used data from the "national survey on psychiatric and somatic health of homeless individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic" (NAPSHI-study) which took place in several large cities in Germany in Mid-2021 (n = 666 in the analytical sample). Mean age equaled 43.3 years (SD 12.1 years), ranging from 18 to 80 years. Multiple linear regressions were performed.Results:
In our study, 70.9% of the homeless individuals reported no fear of COVID-19. Furthermore, 14.0% reported a little fear of COVID-19, 8.4% reported some fear of COVID-19 and 6.7% reported severe fear of COVID-19. Multiple linear regressions revealed that fear of COVID-19 was higher among individuals aged 50-64 years (compared to individuals aged 18-29 years ß = 0.28, p < 0.05), among individuals with a higher perceived own risk of contracting the coronavirus 1 day (ß = 0.28, p < 0.001) as well as among individuals with a higher agreement that a diagnosis of the coronavirus would ruin his/her life (ß = 0.15, p < 0.001).Conclusions:
Only a small proportion of homeless individuals reported fear of COVID-19 in mid-2021 in Germany. Such knowledge about the correlates of higher levels of fear of COVID-19 may be helpful for addressing certain risk groups (e.g., homeless individuals aged 50-64 years). In a further step, avoiding extraordinarily high levels of fear of COVID-19 may be beneficial to avoid irrational thinking and acting regarding COVID-19 in this group.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
Front Public Health
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Fpubh.2022.915965
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