Cycle of Perpetual Vulnerability for Women Facing Homelessness near an Urban Library in a Major U.S. Metropolitan Area (original) (raw)
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Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, 2018
Homelessness is an increasingly prevalent issue worldwide. Women represent the fastest growing segment of the homeless population and have differing needs to men. These differences need to be considered by service providers and other stakeholders working with homeless women. A scoping review was conducted to address the question "What is known about issues relating to homeless women in the existing literature?" PubMed, PsycInfo, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus and Web of Science were searched up until March 2018 with no date limits. The final sample of articles included in this scoping study was 232 from which six themes were extracted: (1) pathways into homelessness, (2) trauma, victimization and adverse childhood experiences, (3) mental and physical health issues, (4) barriers to accessing treatment and experiences with service providers, (5) social support and life satisfaction and (6) strengths, hopes and leaving homelessness. This review suggests a strengths-based approach to addressing women's homelessness. This approach emphasizes people's self-determination and strengths and views clients as resilient to problems they encounter in their lives. Future research and service provision should take into account the complexities in the lives of homeless women and recognize the autonomy of women to move out of homelessness.
The Experience of Violence in the Lives of Homeless Women: Research Report
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Studies investigating the experience of violence by homeless women date to the mid 1980's, but most prior research has been more concerned with establishing the face of violence committed against these extremely vulnerable women than in exploring the risk factors responsible for it. This multi-site statewide study examined the experience of violence among 800 homeless women living in one of four cities in Florida and a comparison sample of approximately 100 men. A significant number of women were victimized in their lifetime, and almost one-quarter of the women indicated that violence was one, if not the main reason they were homeless. In fact almost one third of the sample of women indicated they had left a childhood home due to violence. Rates of sexual, physical and stalking victimization were much higher in this sample compared to the National Violence Against Women Survey, which used the same measures. For the women in this study, childhood experiences of violence were consistently associated with negative outcomes such as alcohol and drug use, depression, and low self-esteem. Moreover, the results of the multivariate analysis indicated that childhood violence significantly increased the risk for adult victimization net of all other factors in the model. In addition, other risk factors included current alcohol use, being divorced or separated, a greater number of children, number of times homeless, and depression. What this analysis tells us is that homeless women are a vulnerable population with childhood violence at the crux of this vulnerability. Minor and Severe violence experienced as a child increased the risk of many of factors (including homelessness) that then were associated with a greater risk for adult victimization. At a minimum, these results suggest that that more attention should be paid to the treatment of child victimization and a greater effort should be made to prevent child maltreatment. For the women in our study, these efforts would be too late, however, homeless shelters, may not be equipped to handle the myriad of problems that these women may be dealing with. Shelters, for example appear to be more equipped to handle needs such as healthcare and the immediate issue of housing. However, they may not be prepared to delve deep into the childhood experiences of the women that arrive at their facilities. Without such abilities, homeless women are in danger of repeating the cycle over and over again and putting both themselves and their children in grave danger.
Violence & Victims, 2014
As "access brokers" to resources for their clients, homeless shelter workers are often in a position to aid victimized homeless women in securing medical and psychological services postvictimization. Given high rates of victimization within this population, we would expect that a routine part of a shelter's case management process would involve queries regarding victimization. Through in-depth qualitative interviews with 42 victimized homeless women in Chicago and Detroit, we sought to discover the extent to which such queries were pursued by staff at their current shelter. What we found is that women are seldom asked to provide a complete history that includes experiences of violent victimization and its effects. From these results, we make several recommendations aimed at improving homeless victims' access to services.
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An increase in the number of individuals who are homeless since the 1980s has made homelessness a major social, economic, and political problem in the United States. The number of homeless in this country is estimated as high as 3 million, with women and children constituting the fastest growing subgroup of this population. A study of eight homeless women using a shelter in a southeastern city was conducted to explore the experience of homelessness from the women's perspectives. A modified ethnographic approach using a semistructured interview provided qualitative data. The constant comparative method of analysis identified themes of heightened awareness, guarding, identification of needs, and strategies for resolution. This study provides a new understanding of how some women experience homelessness, as well as the responses they take to solve this problem.
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This study investigated the needs of a sample of 100 women from shelters for the homeless in Richmond, Virginia. The women's responses to a ll7-item interview were used to obtain information regarding their domicilary status, work history, educational background, family and health history, social support, reasons for homelessness, and social service needs. The results indicated that a significant number of the women had moved as many as six times within the past five years for various reasons, including domestic violence, interpersonal conflict, overcrowding, and eviction. Many women were high school graduates and had job skills in the health care, educational, and clerical fields. Most women were raised by their natural or extended family and the majorify of them had a friend or family member who provided social support. Identified needs included housing, food, clothing, and transportation. The needs of homeless women and their children were different from the needs of the homeless chronically mentally ill and require specialized services as well as an increase in the available number of Jow-income housing units.