Transcript The health status of diners who attend charity meals

THE HEALTH STATUS OF
DINERS WHO ATTEND
CHARITY MEALS
Rebecca Greig
April 2015

Assumed that the diners had mental health and
addiction issues

Traditionally charity meals have been a place
where no questions are asked

Definition of a Charity Meal
Soup kitchens
 Not a food bank


International Research
charity meals, soup kitchens, community meals,
community dinners, food bank, food security,
homelessness, addiction, mental health, poverty and
New Zealand
 health and poverty


Anthropolgist Irene Glasser
“Although soup kitchens are mentioned in passing
scholarly articles (for example, recruiting interviewees
in soup kitchens) they are not often studied in any
depth”
Glasser, April 2014
POVERTY IN NEW ZEALAND

The widening gap between the poor and wealthy

The more unequal a society becomes the more
disadvantaged poor people are

Inequality, not just poverty

WHO (2010) poor people get sicker and die quicker
than others

Donnelly (2009)

Drugs, alcohol and smoking ease the pain of poverty –
then the cycle of addiction and ill-health
QUESTIONNAIRE

Demographics

Previous contact with Mental Health/AOD service

How they rate their general health

Kessler 10-item scale (K-10)

Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT)

Cannabis Use Disorder Identification Test-Revised
(CUDIT-R)
RESULTS N=40

Male = 34 Female = 6
NZ European = 19
 Maori = 16
 Pacific People = 2
 European = 3

Currently single = 37
 In a relationship = 3

RESULTS N=40
Live alone
 Live with others (flatting/boarding)
 Live with partner
 Live with their young children

23
15
1
1
RESULTS N=40
Rented a room
 Own home or rental
 Boarding/flatting
 Men’s night shelter
 Vehicle
 Tent

13
9
7
7
3
1
RESULTS N=40
Job seekers benefit
 Supported Living Benefit
 ACC Payment
 No income
 Student hardship allowance
 Emergency benefit

24
10
2
2
1
1
GENERAL HEALTH STATUS, N=40
 Cut
arm in drunk altercation
 Reaction to medications
 Pneumonia
 Punched in eye
 Two new hips, arthritis in back
 Broken jaw
 Allergy problems
 Car accident
 Operations
 Overdosing/Self-harm
 The bends from diving
 Head injury
 Abdominal pain
 Giving birth to baby
 Gout
 Cut
forearm in fight
 Breakdown
 Infectious dog bite
 Tonsils at 18 years old
 Two broken legs
 Both shoulders, osteoarthritis from abuse as a
child
 Alcohol induced seizures (comatose not
withdrawals)
 Motorbike accident, in coma for three months
ONE DINERS MEDICATION LIST
Laxsol tablets
 Sodium cromoglycate eye drops
 Tramadol Hydrochloride (pain relief)
 Oxycodone (pain relief)
 Amitrip (antidepressant)
 Simvastation (for high cholesterol)
 Oxynorm (opioid agonist - pain management)
 Nupentin (anticonvulsant)

RESULTS N=40

Assessed by a Mental Health Service
23

Assessed by an AOD or Gambling service
28

Assessed by both MH and AOD/Gambling
12

Currently a patient of a MH or AOD/Gambling
service
12
THE OVERLAP BETWEEN MODERATE TO SEVERE MENTAL
DISORDER, PROBLEMATIC USE OF ALCOHOL AND
HAZARDOUS USE OF CANNABIS, N=39
Moderate to severe
mental disorder

7
Did not meet
criteria
Problematic use of alcohol
5
2
6
11 2
1
Hazardous use of cannabis
COMPARISON

NZ Health Survey 2013/14

91.4% rated their health as excellent, very good or good

17.7% adult drinkers compared to 67.5% L&F

L&F diners two times more likely to be experiencing
moderate to severe mental disorder than adult population
of NZ

77.5% used nicotine compared to 19.9% of NZ adults
WHAT NOW?

Results not surprising!

A place where no questions are asked…?
32 meet criteria
 12 currently engaged in treatment


Distribution of clothes, food to take-away, basic
first-aid, assistance to fill in forms, haircuts?

Outreach workers – MH – AOD – WINZ ??
THANK YOU
Professor Doug Sellman
 Associate Professor Simon Adamson


Eileen Varley, Regional Manager, Addiction Service
NMDHB

Anglican Diocese of Nelson, Te Kotahitanga and
the St John’s College Trust Board for scholarship
funding.
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