“Taking another route”: Daily survival narratives from mothers who are homeless

Abstract

Homelessness among families has become a growing social problem for communities, yet little is known about the types of daily survival strategies such families employ. This paper presents results of a qualitative study of the coping narratives of 64 mothers living in temporary emergency shelters with their children. The women reported using a variety of coping responses to daily stressful events. These included the use of direct actions and more palliative strategies. Results suggest that stress and coping theory may be useful for understanding homelessness. Implications for program development and future research are discussed.

Department

Psychology

Publication Date

12-1995

Journal Title

American Journal of Community Health

Publisher

Springer

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1007/BF02507019

Document Type

Article

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS