TY - JOUR
T1 - Homeless people's trust and interactions with police and paramedics
AU - Zakrison, Tanya L.
AU - Hamel, Paul A.
AU - Hwang, Stephen W.
N1 - Funding Information:
Dr. Hwang is the recipient of a New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The Inner City Health Research Unit is supported in part by a grant from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. The results and conclusions are those of the authors, and no official endorsement by these organizations is intended or should be inferred. Preliminary results of this study were presented at the Second International Conference of the International Society for Equity in Health, Toronto, Ontario, June 2002, and at the 26th Annual Meeting of the Society of General Internal Medicine, Vancouver, British Columbia, May 2003.
PY - 2004/12
Y1 - 2004/12
N2 - Although the health impact of patients' trust in physicians has been well documented, less is known about the possible health effects of trust in police or paramedics. Homeless people frequently interact with police officers and paramedics, and these experiences may affect their health and future willingness to seek emergency assistance. We examined homeless people's self-reported interactions with police and paramedics in Toronto, Canada, and their level of trust in these emergency service providers. In a sample of 160 shelter users, 61% had interacted with police in the last 12 months, and 37% had interacted with paramedics (P=.0001). The proportion of subjects who expressed willingness to call police in an emergency was significantly lower than those willing to call paramedics in an emergency (69% vs. 92%, P=.0001). On a Likert scale ranging from a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 5, trust levels were lower in police than in paramedics (median level 3 vs. 5, P=.0001). Among shelter users, 9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 5% to 14%) reported an assault by a police officer in the last year, and 0% (95% CI, 0% to 4%) reported an assault by a paramedic. These findings showed that homeless people have much lower levels of trust in police than paramedics. Reports of negative interactions with police are not uncommon, and homeless people's perceptions of the police may pose a barrier to seeking emergency assistance. Further research is needed for objective characterization of homeless people's interactions with police officers and the potential health implications of low levels of trust in the police.
AB - Although the health impact of patients' trust in physicians has been well documented, less is known about the possible health effects of trust in police or paramedics. Homeless people frequently interact with police officers and paramedics, and these experiences may affect their health and future willingness to seek emergency assistance. We examined homeless people's self-reported interactions with police and paramedics in Toronto, Canada, and their level of trust in these emergency service providers. In a sample of 160 shelter users, 61% had interacted with police in the last 12 months, and 37% had interacted with paramedics (P=.0001). The proportion of subjects who expressed willingness to call police in an emergency was significantly lower than those willing to call paramedics in an emergency (69% vs. 92%, P=.0001). On a Likert scale ranging from a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 5, trust levels were lower in police than in paramedics (median level 3 vs. 5, P=.0001). Among shelter users, 9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 5% to 14%) reported an assault by a police officer in the last year, and 0% (95% CI, 0% to 4%) reported an assault by a paramedic. These findings showed that homeless people have much lower levels of trust in police than paramedics. Reports of negative interactions with police are not uncommon, and homeless people's perceptions of the police may pose a barrier to seeking emergency assistance. Further research is needed for objective characterization of homeless people's interactions with police officers and the potential health implications of low levels of trust in the police.
KW - Emergency medical technicians
KW - Homeless persons
KW - Police
KW - Trust
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U2 - 10.1093/jurban/jth143
DO - 10.1093/jurban/jth143
M3 - Article
C2 - 15466841
AN - SCOPUS:7644227901
VL - 81
SP - 596
EP - 605
JO - Journal of Urban Health
JF - Journal of Urban Health
SN - 1099-3460
IS - 4
ER -