Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

Publication Date

5-17-2003

Abstract

This qualitative exploratory study attempts to understand and explain aspects of homeless women's experiences. The aim of this inquiry was: 1) To learn about the pathways to homelessness for the women in the sample, how they perceive their current situation, and how they perceive their future possibilities; and 2) To understand, from a homeless woman's perspective, how she copes with her life situation. This study was undertaken from the perspective of positive psychology, focusing on participants' strengths and methods of coping.

The study was based on interviews with 12 women who are homeless and living in a large urban homeless shelter. The use of semi-structured interviews allowed participants to define and describe their own experiences, including both the stressors and the coping processes. Data was analyzed using the constant comparative method. The major domains that emerged from the data included: 1) Paths to homelessness; 2) Contexts of homelessness; 3) Coping and resilience; and 4) Plans and hopes for the future.

The participants displayed profound acceptance of the difficulties life had brought them, including their experiences with homelessness. These women's lives exemplify determination and survival. For many of the women, resilience appears to have been honed through dealing with traumatic life experiences. This resilience seems now to translate to an optimistic attitude regarding the stressors inherent in homelessness.

The women had created meaning out of their homeless experiences in the context of their futures. Plans and hopes for the future seemed to be a factor in coping, and allowed these women to take one day at a time. These women had experienced a variety of external events that would be considered by many to be extremely adverse. However, the women had chosen to use constructive interpretation of homelessness which facilitated adaptation and coping.

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Educational Psychology

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Individual, Family, and Community Education

First Committee Member (Chair)

Andrea F. Vierra

Second Committee Member

David Scherer

Third Committee Member

Carolyn J. Wood

Fourth Committee Member

Vera Polgar John-Steiner

Download

Included in

Education Commons

Share

COinS