In Toronto, mental illness, homeless more important to discrimination than race
Vulnerable populations in ethnically diverse Toronto reported more discrimination by health care workers based on their housing status, mental health or substance abuse issues than race, a new study has found.
Forty-two per cent of people surveyed reported at least one form of perceived discrimination by health care workers, lead author Dr. Vicky Stergiopoulos wrote in a paper published today in the journal BMC Health Services Research.
The most prevalent form of perceived discrimination was due to mental illness or substance abuse (33 per cent) and homelessness or poverty (30 per cent), said Dr. Stergiopoulos, psychiatrist-in-chief at St. Michael's Hospital.
Only 20 per cent of non-Caucasian and 15 per cent of overall participants reported discrimination due to race, ethnicity or skin colour, said Dr. Stergiopoulos, who is also a scientist in the hospital's Center for Research on Inner City Health.
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