Convalescent care in the context of homelessness and housing instability: The importance of fostering predictably safe and secure recuperative environments

Medical respite is a form of residential convalescent care providing aftercare services to individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness and housing instability. Little research examines how residential convalescent care affects people following acute-care hospitalization. This study of an urban medical respite program used qualitative interviews with ten respite facility clients as its primary source of data. Additional descriptive information was obtained through a quantitative examination of client data (<i>N</i> = 103). Findings suggest that before hospitalization, patients utilizing respite care originate in unstable, tumultuous, and often violently dangerous environments. From clients' perspectives, it is therefore critically important that the studied aftercare program provides a predictably safe recuperative setting. Findings are discussed in terms of ontological security: By reducing homelessness and housing instability-related ontological insecurity-anxiety and feelings of ill-being caused by a lack of environmental constancy, privacy, and safety-both physical and mental health can improve.