AUTHOR=Hajek André , Bertram Franziska , Rüth Victoria van , Dost Katharina , Graf Wiebke , Brenneke Anna , Kowalski Veronika , Püschel Klaus , Schüler Christine , Ondruschka Benjamin , Heinrich Fabian , König Hans-Helmut 

TITLE=Fear of COVID-19 among homeless individuals in Germany in mid-2021

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.915965

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.915965

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Aims</title><p>To investigate the prevalence and the correlates of fear of COVID-19 among homeless individuals.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>We used data from the “national survey on psychiatric and somatic health of homeless individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic” (NAPSHI-study) which took place in several large cities in Germany in Mid-2021 (<italic>n</italic> = 666 in the analytical sample). Mean age equaled 43.3 years (SD: 12.1 years), ranging from 18 to 80 years. Multiple linear regressions were performed.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>In our study, 70.9% of the homeless individuals reported no fear of COVID-19. Furthermore, 14.0% reported a little fear of COVID-19, 8.4% reported some fear of COVID-19 and 6.7% reported severe fear of COVID-19. Multiple linear regressions revealed that fear of COVID-19 was higher among individuals aged 50–64 years (compared to individuals aged 18–29 years: <italic>β</italic> = 0.28, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05), among individuals with a higher perceived own risk of contracting the coronavirus 1 day (<italic>β</italic> = 0.28, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001) as well as among individuals with a higher agreement that a diagnosis of the coronavirus would ruin his/her life (<italic>β</italic> = 0.15, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions</title><p>Only a small proportion of homeless individuals reported fear of COVID-19 in mid-2021 in Germany. Such knowledge about the correlates of higher levels of fear of COVID-19 may be helpful for addressing certain risk groups (e.g., homeless individuals aged 50–64 years). In a further step, avoiding extraordinarily high levels of fear of COVID-19 may be beneficial to avoid irrational thinking and acting regarding COVID-19 in this group.</p></sec>