Embodying plurality: becoming more‐than homeless

Arising from seven months of auto/ethnographic research in an English city, this paper attends to the mundane practices through which we – ‘the homeless’ ‐ renegotiate ourselves to become more‐than‐homeless. The ‘we’ through which these auto/biographies are writ denotes an inflection on the spectral presence of my own experiences of homelessness, spectral because they reflect a historic occurrence brought back in the doing of this research. Affording a unique position of betweenness, this article thus seeks to add depth and nuance to the homeless literature by emphasising the embodied performances through which we become more‐than‐homeless. To this end, this paper contributes to recent approaches in homelessness research drawing on performativity and embodiment to show how we are neither ontologically nor existentially reducible to our homelessness. Exploring the webs of relational engagements between human and non‐human others, space and subjectivity, the ongoing (re)negotiations expressed in acts of remembering, forgetting, supressing, misremembering and imagining, distance the moment of homelessness so that we are able to become someone other than ‘homeless’. This distancing is not to shade the ways in which we are different. Rather, it is to reveal a dimension of possibilities, both spatial and temporal, through which we resist a subsumption into the singular mass of ‘the homeless’, becoming instead someone more‐than‐homeless

A comparison of the metabolic effects of sustained strenuous activity in polar environments on men and women

This study investigates differences in pre- to post-expedition energy expenditure, substrate utilisation and body composition, between the all-male Spear17 (SP-17) and all-female Ice Maiden (IM) transantarctic expeditions (IM: N = 6, 61 days, 1700 km; SP-17: N = 5, 67 days, 1750 km). Energy expenditure and substrate utilisation were measured by a standardised 36 h calorimetry protocol; body composition was determined using air displacement plethysmography. Energy balance calculation were used to assess the physical challenge. There was difference in the daily energy expenditure (IM: 4,939 kcal day−1; SP-17: 6,461 kcal day−1, p = 0.004); differences related to physical activity were small, but statistically significant (IM = 2,282 kcal day−1; SP-17 = 3,174 kcal day−1; p = 0.004). Bodyweight loss was modest (IM = 7.8%, SP-17 = 6.5%; p > 0.05) as was fat loss (IM = 30.4%, SP-17 = 40.4%; p > 0.05). Lean tissue weight change was statistically significant (IM = − 2.5%, SP-17 = + 1.0%; p = 0.05). No difference was found in resting or sleeping energy expenditure, normalised to lean tissue weight (p > 0.05); nor in energy expenditure when exercising at 80, 100 and 120 steps min−1, normalised to body weight (p > 0.05). Similarly, no difference was found in the change in normalised substrate utilisation for any of the activities (p > 0.05). Analysis suggested that higher daily energy expenditures for the men in Spear-17 was the result of higher physical demands resulting in a reduced demand for energy to thermoregulate compared to the women in Ice Maiden. The lack of differences between men and women in the change in energy expenditure and substrate utilisation, suggests no sex difference in response to exposure to extreme environments

Burden of mental disorders and unmet needs among street homeless people in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: The impact of mental disorders among homeless people is likely to be substantial in low income countries because of underdeveloped social welfare and health systems. As a first step towards advocacy and provision of care, we conducted a study to determine the burden of psychotic disorders and associated unmet needs, as well as the prevalence of mental distress, suicidality, and alcohol use disorder among homeless people in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among street homeless adults. Trained community nurses screened for potential psychosis and administered standardized measures of mental distress, alcohol use disorder and suicidality. Psychiatric nurses then carried out confirmatory diagnostic interviews of psychosis and administered a locally adapted version of the Camberwell Assessment of Needs Short Appraisal Schedule. RESULTS: We assessed 217 street homeless adults, about 90% of whom had experienced some form of mental or alcohol use disorder: 41.0% had psychosis, 60.0% had hazardous or dependent alcohol use, and 14.8% reported attempting suicide in the previous month. Homeless people with psychosis had extensive unmet needs with 80% to 100% reporting unmet needs across 26 domains. Nearly 30% had physical disability (visual and sensory impairment and impaired mobility). Only 10.0% of those with psychosis had ever received treatment for their illness. Most had lived on the streets for over 2 years, and alcohol use disorder was positively associated with chronicity of homelessness. CONCLUSION: Psychoses and other mental and behavioural disorders affect most people who are street homeless in Addis Ababa. Any programme to improve the condition of homeless people should include treatment for mental and alcohol use disorders. The findings have significant implications for advocacy and intervention programmes, particularly in similar low income settings. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12916-014-0138-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users