“They’re always there”: resident experiences of living with rats in a disadvantaged urban neighbourhood
department or school: Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
department or school: Non UBC
department or school: Medicine, Faculty of
department or school: Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of
data provider: DSpace
identifier citation: BMC Public Health. 2019 Jul 01;19(1):853
contributor: University of British Columbia. Biodiversity Research Centre
contributor: University of British Columbia. Centre for Applied Ethics
rights copyright: The Author(s).
creator: Byers, Kaylee A.
creator: Cox, Susan M.
creator: Lam, Raymond
creator: Himsworth, Chelsea
issued: 2019-07-03T16:52:16Z
issued: 2019-07-01
description: Background: The presence of urban rats in the neighbourhood environment may negatively impact the physical and mental health of residents. Our study sought to describe the experiences with, perceptions of, and feelings towards rats and rat control efforts among a group of disadvantaged urban residents in Vancouver, Canada. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were held with 20 members of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) recruited by VANDU staff. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Participants reported daily sightings of rats and close contact during encounters. Participants generally disliked encountering rats, raising issues of health and safety for themselves and the community due to the belief that rats carry disease. Fear of rats was common, and in some cases resulted in avoidance of rats. Effects of rats on participants were particularly pronounced for those living with rats in the home or for homeless participants who described impacts on sleep due to the sounds made by rats. Although rats were viewed as more problematic in their neighbourhood than elsewhere in Vancouver, participants believed there to be a lack of neighbourhood-level control initiatives that angered and disheartened participants. In combination with other community-level concerns (e.g., housing quality and availability), the presence of rats was viewed by some to align with a general disregard for the community and its residents. Conclusions: This study suggests that the presence of rats in urban centres may have several consequences on the physical and mental health of residents living in close contact with them. These effects may be exacerbated with continued contact with rats and when residents perceive a lack of initiative to control rats in their neighbourhood. As such, research and policies aimed at mitigating the health risks posed by rats should extend beyond disease-related risk and incorporate diverse health out…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/70881
note: RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access“They’re always there”: resident experiencesof living with rats in a disadvantaged urbanneighbourhoodKaylee A. Byers1,2,3* , Susan M. Cox4,5, Raymond Lam4 and Chelsea G. Himsworth2,4,6AbstractBackground: The presence of urban rats in the neighbourhood environment may negatively impact the physicaland mental health of residents. Our study sought to describe the experiences with, perceptions of, and feelingstowards rats and rat control efforts among a group of disadvantaged urban residents in Vancouver, Canada.Methods: Semi-structured interviews were held with 20 members of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users(VANDU) recruited by VANDU staff. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematicanalysis.Results: Participants reported daily sightings of rats and close contact during encounters. Participants generallydisliked encountering rats, raising issues of health and safety for themselves and the community due to the beliefthat rats carry disease. Fear of rats was common, and in some cases resulted in avoidance of rats. Effects of rats onparticipants were particularly pronounced for those living with rats in the home or for homeless participants whodescribed impacts on sleep due to the sounds made by rats. Although rats were viewed as more problematic intheir neighbourhood than elsewhere in Vancouver, participants believed there to be a lack of neighbourhood-levelcontrol initiatives that angered and disheartened participants. In combination with other community-level concerns(e.g., housing quality and availability), the presence of rats was viewed by some to align with a general disregardfor the community and its residents.Conclusions: This study suggests that the presence of rats in urban centres may have several consequences on thephysical and mental health of residents living in close contact with them. These effects may be exacerbated withcontinued contact with rats and when residents perceive a lack of initia…
has type: Article
spatial: Downtown-Eastside (Vancouver, B.C.)
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0379726
language: eng
peer review status: Reviewed
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: BioMed Central
publisher DOI: 10.1186/s12889-019-7202-6
rights: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
scholar level: Faculty
subject: Rats
subject: Mental health
subject: Public health
subject: Social justice
subject: Qualitative research
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/70881