3.3.0.0 Home­less­ness

Home­less­ness often ac­com­pa­nies many ad­di­tional bar­ri­ers to di­a­betes self man­age­ment, in­clud­ing FI, lit­er­acy and nu­mer­a­cy deficien­cies, lack of in­sur­ance, cog­ni­tive dys­func­tion, and men­tal health is­sues. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, pa­tients with di­a­betes who are home­less need se­cure places to keep their di­a­betes sup­plies and ref­ri­ge­ra­tor ac­cess to prop­er­ly store their in­sulin and take it on a reg­u­lar sched­ule. Risk for home­less­ness can be as­cer­tained using a brief risk as­sessment tool de­vel­oped and val­i­dat­ed for use among vet­er­ans (75). Given the po­ten­tial chal­lenges, pro­viders who care for home­less in­di­vid­u­als should be fa­mil­iar with re­sources or have ac­cess to so­cial work­ers that can fa­cil­i­tate tem­po­rary hous­ing for their pa­tients as a way to im­prove di­a­betes care.