Violence and victimisation in the lives of persons experiencing homelessness who use methamphetamine: A scoping review

Abstract

Methamphetamine (MA) use among individuals who experience homelessness has tripled in recent years. This is a problematic trend given the harmful impacts of this substance on health and social well-being. While there is a large body of literature on the relationship between substance use and trauma, little is known about the scope of existing empirical literature exploring this topic related to MA use. Anecdotally, MA is frequently associated with violence and victimisation, which may be related to stigma associated with using MA. However, little is known about the scope of empirical literature exploring violence and victimisation in the lives of individuals who experience homelessness and use MA. We conducted a scoping review to fill this gap in existing literature using Arksey and O’Malley's methodological framework. Our search was conducted between January 2021 and March 2021 and was deployed in seven databases: Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts, Nursing and Allied Health and AMED. Two independent raters screened 700 titles and abstracts after the removal of duplicates. A total of 54 articles were subjected to a full-text review and 20 articles met the inclusion criteria. We generated two themes: methamphetamine and victimisation and challenging behaviours. Six (30%) of the included articles explored MA use in relation to violence, while 18 (90%) explored experiences of victimisation among persons experiencing homelessness. Our findings highlight that individual who experience homelessness and use MA are particularly vulnerable to experiences of trauma. Though existing literature does acknowledge the challenging behaviour associated with MA use, only three existing studies demonstrated a relationship between MA use and physical violence. Research exploring the impacts of MA use on victimisation among persons who experience homelessness, and the development of interventions for managing challenging behaviours associated with MA use are needed.