DEFINING SEVERE & MULTIPLE DISADVANTAGE


In the original Hard Edges study in England, an initial quaIitative scoping stage laid considerable emphasis on designing and testing out the most appropriate definition of SMD to use in this research (Bramley et al, 2015).


This current study builds on that foundation. Thus we retain the original three-dimensional version of SMD(3D) – focused on homelessness, offending and substance dependency - in this Scottish study. In part, this is to ensure continuity and comparability with the English Hard Edges study. However, the research team also believe that this original definition of SMD has validity in focusing tightly on this particular group who face an exceptionally high level of stigma and dislocation from societal norms.


At the same time, we recognise that the wider perspective brought by also considering mental health (MH) and domestic violence and abuse (DVA) gives fuller recognition to a range of complex needs and experiences which arguably require more policy attention and responses from services, and which tend to affect women to a greater extent than the issues captured in the original SMD definition, which is strongly associated with men. Thus, in this Scottish report we have extended our analysis to also consider a wider five-dimensional version of SMD (5D). The definitional ‘thresholds’ used for each of these five key domains are summarised in Table 1.


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While the precise parameters of these definitions inevitably vary depending on the particular dataset being drawn upon in, Table 1 provides a brief guide to the broad thresholds being applied in each domain and the datasets within which they are being applied (see Bramley et al (2019) for more detail). It is important to appreciate that, out of necessity, there are compromises between (a) the ideal ‘in principle’ definition, (b) definitions based on administrative recording systems, and (c) definitions which can be implemented in particular household surveys.


In the original Hard Edges study most of the emphasis was upon ‘Current SMD’, by which we mean the number of people experiencing each disadvantage in a year (though not necessarily at exactly the same time). In the gendered profile follow-up study in England, more emphasis was placed upon ‘Ever SMD’ definitions. One important reason for this was our greater reliance in that latter study on sample survey datasets, within which the number of cases with current experience of what are often relatively rare situations are too small to permit statistically viable analyses. As we will see below, a similar


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