Associations between Home Foreclosure and Health Outcomes in a Spanish City
by
Mariola Bernal-Solano 1,2, Julia Bolívar-Muñoz 1,2,†, Inmaculada Mateo-Rodríguez 1,2,3, Humbelina Robles-Ortega 4, Maria del Carmen Fernández-Santaella 4, José Luís Mata-Martín 4, Jaime Vila-Castellar 4
and Antonio Daponte-Codina 1,2,3,*
Mariola Bernal-Solano 1,2, Julia Bolívar-Muñoz 1,2,†, Inmaculada Mateo-Rodríguez 1,2,3, Humbelina Robles-Ortega 4, Maria del Carmen Fernández-Santaella 4, José Luís Mata-Martín 4, Jaime Vila-Castellar 4 and Antonio Daponte-Codina 1,2,3,*
1
Andalusian School of Public Health, 18080 Granada, Spain
2
CIBER Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), 28029 Madrid, Spain
3
Andalusian Observatory on Environment and Health (OSMAN), 18080 Granada, Spain
4
Faculty of Psychology, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Deceased 1 December 2017.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(6), 981; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16060981
Received: 22 January 2019 / Revised: 17 March 2019 / Accepted: 17 March 2019 / Published: 19 March 2019
(This article belongs to the Section Health Behavior, Chronic Disease and Health Promotion)
The financial crisis has caused an exponential increase of home foreclosures in Spain. Recent studies have shown the effects that foreclosures have on mental and physical health. This study explores these effects on a sample of adults in the city of Granada (Spain), in terms of socio-demographic, socio-economic and process characteristics. A cross-sectional survey was administered to obtain information on self-perceived changes in several indicators of physical and mental health, consumption of medications, health-related behaviors and use of health services. A total of 205 persons, going through a foreclosure process, participated in the study. 85.7% of the sample reported an increase of episodes of anxiety, depression, and stress; 82.6% sleep disturbances; 42.8% worsening of previous chronic conditions, and 40.8% an increase in consumption of medication. Women, married persons and persons already in the legal stage of the foreclosure process reported higher probability of worsening health according to several indicators, in comparison with men, not married, and individuals in the initial stages of the foreclosure process. The results of this study reveal a general deterioration of health associated with the foreclosure process. These results may help to identify factors to prevent poor health among populations going through a foreclosure process.
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Keywords:
foreclosures; economic crisis; housing; social determinants of health; Spain
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Bernal-Solano, M.; Bolívar-Muñoz, J.; Mateo-Rodríguez, I.; Robles-Ortega, H.; Fernández-Santaella, M.C.; Mata-Martín, J.L.; Vila-Castellar, J.; Daponte-Codina, A. Associations between Home Foreclosure and Health Outcomes in a Spanish City. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 981.
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