Urban Health and Society: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Research and Practice - Part 20. This book provides the most current frameworks, research, and approaches for understanding how unique features of the urban physical and social environments that shape the health of over half of the world's population that is already residing in large cities. Its interdisciplinary research and practice focus is a welcome innovation. | Focus Group Analysis and the Emergence of Health as an Issue 171 and their resonance with the social-ecological model of housing and health we conducted an intensive review of transcripts for personal accounts of how health factors were involved in the cascade of trouble experiences of illness injury and access to health care in the wider social and economic context and their relationship to the threat of foreclosure and the stories relating the impact of mortgage delinquency on household physical and mental health. These findings have been presented in three forms short case studies present a detailed narrative of health s role in the cascade of trouble for an individual homeowner illustrative quotes communicate key ideas about health and mortgage delinquency in the neoliberal policy context and exchanges among participants demonstrate the social construction of the experience and consequences of mortgage delinquency that emerged within the focus The Cascade of Trouble In every focus group health problems emerged as part of the story of how homeowners became delinquent on their mortgages. Often an accident at work surgery for cancer a heart attack and even a pregnancy or the birth of a child started what we began to call the cascade of trouble. These incidents led to loss of income medical debt and loss of capacity to work and handle daily life. Sometimes the health problems that tipped homeowners into debt were not their own but rather those of a child spouse and parent or other kin. Other times health problems were interwoven with a divorce missed child support payments layoffs hours cut back at work a car that broke down which all increased financial and emotional distress. The efforts to cope were complicated by increased demands on time hours of work lost dipping into savings running up new debts missing mortgage and other debt payments being subject to late payment fees and higher interest rates and seeking help with the problem itself and with .
