Author: Clare Beard
Beard, Clare, 2023 Homelessness as a barrier to cognitive wellbeing and dementia risk reduction, Flinders University, College of Medicine and Public Health
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This thesis aims to contribute knowledge of dementia risk factors in people experiencing homelessness. In 2020, a seminal report of the Lancet Commission identified twelve potentially modifiable risk factors over the life course that account for 40% of all dementia. This ground-breaking work recognises, but does not elaborate on how factors of poverty and inequity may influence or add to its modelling, nor considers the social barriers preventing the meaningful implementation of dementia risk reduction in a population experiencing extreme socioeconomic disadvantage. Considering this knowledge gap, this thesis seeks to build an understanding of dementia risk in homelessness based on the premise that the mechanisms and exposures may both present and coalesce differently in people experiencing homelessness than seen in the general population, creating distinct challenges for dementia risk reduction.
Keywords: Dementia risk factors, Cognitive wellbeing, Homeless, Homelessness
Subject: Primary Health Care thesis
Thesis type: Doctor of Philosophy
Completed: 2023
School: College of Medicine and Public Health
Supervisor: Associate Professor Annabelle Wilson