Applied Research Approaches in Health Studies: The Effects of Inadequate Housing on Health

Applied Research Approaches in Health Studies: The Effects of Inadequate Housing on Health

The question “What are The Effects of Inadequate Housing on Health?” is of interest to me, because I have never been given much information about this question during most of my years of formal education. It has also been the case that formal education focuses more on our exercise, eating, smoking, and drinking habits, but the perception being relayed with this message is that these individual habits are the foundation to good health. As I got older, I came to the realization that inadequacies in housing conditions have major effects on health even though individuals choose to follow the “eat right, exercise, not smoke, not drink” regime.  I believe that it is important to raise awareness to this issue of inadequate housing because homelessness is on the rise in some parts of Canada such as Toronto and East side Vancouver. Homelessness is a huge contributor to declining physical, mental and perhaps other aspects of health. Some of the related issues of insecure housing will be noted in the next paragraph. Poor housing poses many downsides that inevitably lead to stress and other harmful ill-health situations.  

Three of the main downsides associated with poor housing situations are: 1) ‘social downsides’, because stigma regarding crime and poverty are linked to people residing in certain geographical areas; 2) ‘mental issues’, because higher mental breakdown incidents are directly correlated to stresses of residing in toxic environments; 3) ‘higher risk of disease’, because many toxic habitats such as those with issues of mold, asbestos, leaks, infectious bugs and pests and others in poor housing situations are disease causing (Dunn, Hayes, Hulchanski, Hwang and Potvin, 2006). Asbestos is directly correlated to cancer development, yet the suggested ‘individualized habits’ of   “eating right, exercise” and the like were reinforced more during my formal years of education. Krieger and Higgins (2002) communicated crucial factors that lead to inadequate housing and inescapably major health issues. The factors that the authors relayed were: unsafe drinking water, unsafe waste disposal, and overcrowding (as it is directly linked to the easy spread of infectious disease).

To a major extent, the two aforementioned articles brought to light some important issues that are not generally spoken of as health risks. These issues that shed some light on answering some of the questions that I had, they were:

• (Dunn, Hayes, Hulchanski, Hwang and Potvin 2006)’s empirical research study and findings confirmed that people living in low income homes were not able to spend money on “health-enhancing goods” (p.14).
• (Krieger and Higgins 2002)’s theoretical paper contributed significantly by making known that inadequate housing conditions were directly linked to major health issues such as “respiratory infections, asthma, lead poisoning, injuries, and mental health”(p.758).

(Dunn, Hayes, Hulchanski, Hwang and Potvin, 2006) Empirical research and findings that were relevant to my question concluded that, housing in many aspects such as the physical, social and environmental situations are indeed connected to health issues. Similarly (Krieger and Higgins 2002)’s theoretical paper concluded that many problems such as political factors, socio-economic factors absence of community advocacy groups and the like all influence access to appropriate housing and consequently health. Although Dunn, Hayes, Hulchanski, Hwang and Potvin, (2006) did a somewhat in-depth study of the issue of inadequate housing, and Krieger and Higgins (2002) made a significant contribution, I would have to agree with Dunn (2006) that “further research is needed”. I say that research is needed because the relayed data from both sources didn’t address solutions for inadequate housing, and that was disappointing and frustrating.