Objectives: To understand how and to what extent drop-in centres are associated with the physical and mental health and substance use status of street children in New Delhi.
Methods: In a qualitative study, I interviewed 23 street children and two drop-in centre staff members in New Delhi. Subsequently, I conducted a cross-sectional study with 69 street children who attended centres and 65 street children who did not visit centres. I used questionnaires to assess their physical and mental health and substance use.
Findings: Participants believed that because street children regularly visited drop-in centres, their health outcomes improved. Street children participated in drop-in services because staff members were nonjudgmental, they were free to be a child, their daily struggles were lessened, they received protection, they were given moral direction and they had an opportunity for a better life. However, children continued to live on the streets because street life had become normal. Quantitative findings showed that street children who visited centres had better physical and mental health outcomes and engaged in less substance use than street children who did not visit centres (p<0.01). For every month of attendance, street children experienced 2.1% (95% CI 0% to 4.1%, p=0.05) fewer ill health outcomes per month and used 4.6% (95% CI 1.3% to 8%, p=0.01) fewer substances. Street children were also less likely to have been a current substance user than a never substance user for every additional month at a center (OR: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.66 to 0.96, p=0.02). Duration of attendance was not significant in predicting mental health.
Conclusion: According to participants, drop-in centres positively influence the physical and mental health and substance use status of street children by providing services in an environment tailored for them. Quantitatively, centres may improve the physical health of street children and reduce their substance use. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Street children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) experience poor health. Drop-in centres are one of most common interventions for street children; however, they have not been evaluated in LMICs. I aimed to understand how and how much drop-in centres influence the physical and mental health and substance use status of street children in New Delhi, India. Street children and drop-in centre staff members were interviewed about how they believed centres influenced the health and substance use habits of street children. Participants felt that drop-in centres improve children’s health and substance use habits because the centres provided services in an environment tailored for street children. I also used questionnaires to evaluate the impact of drop-in centre attendance on 69 street children who regularly came to centres and 65 street children who did not come to centres. Quantitatively, centres may improve the physical health and substance use status of street children.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/20629 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Nath, Ronita |
| Contributors | Shannon, Harry, Raina, Parminder, Clinical Epidemiology/Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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