The article, “A National Study of Homelessness, Social Determinants of Health, and Treatment Engagement Among Outpatient Medication for Opioid Use Disorder-Seeking Individuals in the United States,” has been published in SAj in Volume 44 Issue 1-2.
In this commentary, the authors state that homelessness is an important social determinant of health (SDOH), impacting health outcomes for many medical conditions. Although homelessness is common among people with opioid use disorder (OUD), few studies systematically evaluate homelessness and other SDOH among people enrolled in standard of care treatment for OUD, medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), or examine whether homelessness affects treatment engagement.
In the AUTHORS’ OWN WORDS, they relate the importance of their work:
“To our knowledge, this study is one of the first investigations of differences in U.S. national MOUD treatment outcomes and social determinants of health based specifically on housing status. There were several main findings.”
“Our findings highlight the potentially additive or intersectional nature of social determinants of health for people experiencing homelessness and how they might potentially compound to worsen outcomes in MOUD treatment. Examples from the present study include how, compared to episodes among those who were housed, we found the group of episodes among PEH had significantly higher rates of unemployment, no income, receipt of public assistance, lacking health insurance, and arrests in the 30 days prior to admission and discharge.”