Dignity and indignation: How people experiencing homelessness view services and providers

Hoffman, Lisa; Coffey, Brian

doi:10.1016/j.soscij.2008.03.001

Cited by 82 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The current study aims to examine specifically how various aspects of the service environment relate to identification with service staff and other residents. In the literature, it has generally been proposed that service location, overly restrictive rules, lack of autonomy, and lack of privacy deter service use and engagement (Acosta & Toro, 2000;Anderson et al, 2006;Biederman & Nichols, 2014;Brown, Rice, Rickwood, & Parker, 2016;Canavan et al, 2012;Hoffman & Coffey, 2008;Kushel, Vittinghoff, & Hass, 2001;Padgett et al, 1990;Stevenson et al, 2014). Important as this work is, there has been limited examination of how variations in these service delivery systems influence individuals' sense of belonging at the service.…”

Section: Identification and The Service Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Qualitative studies within the homelessness literature also suggest that perceptions of discrimination and negative encounters with service providers are relatively common (Hoffman & Coffey, 2008;Wen, Hudak, & Hwang, 2007). For example, Hoffman and Coffey (2008) examined a database of 500 transcribed interviews with people experiencing homelessness in the United States and found that most descriptions of interactions with staff and service providers were negative, with objectification and infantilisation being common complaints.…”

Section: Identification and Perceived Discriminationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Identification and Perceived Discriminationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Hoffman and Coffey (2008) examined a database of 500 transcribed interviews with people experiencing homelessness in the United States and found that most descriptions of interactions with staff and service providers were negative, with objectification and infantilisation being common complaints. The authors go on to theorise that these forms of discrimination may be a result of the bureaucratic forms of authority and power relations structured by the service provision (Hoffman & Coffey, 2008). Other qualitative reports have also outlined how services can be perceived as restrictive, bureaucratic, dehumanising, ineffective, and oppressive (Biederman situations, individuals may not only perceive discrimination on the basis of membership in a group, but also feel personally discriminated against.…”

Section: Identification and Perceived Discriminationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Services that had higher aggregate levels of personal perceived discrimination may reflect a shared social context in which participants feel personally discriminated against. A potential explanation for this is that there may be an environment or culture of discrimination within the service (Hoffman & Coffey, 2008). For example, a person may feel personally discriminated against as a result of bureaucratic forms of authority and power relations structured by the service provision (Hoffman & Coffey, 2008).…”

Section: Perceived Discrimination and Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transitions through homelessness: the impact of psychosocial factors on well-being and outcomes in a homeless sample

Walter¹

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Homelessness is a complex social issue that is of increasing concern to most developed nations.Homelessness is more than not having a house; it is a form of social exclusion and carries significant physical, psychological, and social challenges. The broad aim of the current thesis was to investigate how the psychological and social aspects of the homeless experience can influence outcomes, such as well-being. In particular, the research focuses on processes related to social categories, social identities, and social support of people, as people transition through homeless accommodation services.The first empirical chapters (Chapter 4 and 5) focus on the impact of self-categorization as homeless. Study 1 (Chapter 4) was a qualitative and quantitative cross-sectional study with 119 residents of homeless accommodation services in South-East Queensland. Results demonstrated that while the majority of participants accepted the homeless label (55%), a large portion of residents (31%) rejected the homeless label, or were ambivalent (14%). Respondents who rejected the homeless label reported greater personal well-being and lower negative mood symptoms than participants who accepted the label. Study 2 (Chapter 5) explored this further using an experimental paradigm among 80 residents of a homeless service. Participants who were required to selfcategorize as homeless at the beginning of the questionnaire had significantly lower future life aspirations and perceived competency than participants who did not. Further, future life aspirations and perceived competency both mediated the relationship between self-categorization and wellbeing.Studies 3 and 4 (Chapters 6 and 7) focus on social identity processes for people transitioning through homelessness. Study 3 assessed how multiple group memberships and service identification related to well-being and positive housing outcomes among 76 participants while they were residing in a homeless accommodation service and again 2 -4 weeks after leaving the service (or three months later if participants had not left the service). The results found that multiple group memberships and service identification independently predicted well-being at Time 2, via social support. Both social identity processes also indirectly predicted housing outcomes via social support. Study 4 built on this research by exploring the antecedents and outcomes that are related to service identification among 296 residents across 19 services. Characteristics of the service delivery model and perceptions of discrimination predicted participants' identification with staff. Further, identification with staff predicted service engagement 6 months later and identification with residents predicted joining new groups 6 months later.The final study (Chapter 8) examined how one of these social processes, namely the relationship between social support and well-being, related to an "individual" trait -emotion iii regulation. Results from a one-year longitudinal study, conducted over three time-points, supported a bi...

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Section: Identification and The Service Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Identification and Perceived Discriminationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Identification and Perceived Discriminationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Identification and Perceived Discriminationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Perceived Discrimination and Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transitions through homelessness: the impact of psychosocial factors on well-being and outcomes in a homeless sample

Walter¹

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Involuntary Displacements—Making a Bad Situation Worse

Kushel

2023

JAMA

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Homelessness, Medicalization of

Wasserman

Clair

2014

The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Health, Illness, Behavior, and Society

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Homelessness is a significant social phenomenon fundamentally conditioned by poverty and class inequality. However, while homelessness is best explained by social structural conditions, it continues to be understood as a phenomenon tied to the deviant behavior of individuals. Insofar as sociology serves a critical function in identifying how social phenomena are predicated by macrolevel contexts, it serves as an important counterweight to the overemphasis on individualistic explanations of these sorts of important social issues that is particularly common in the United States. Thus, where homelessness is understood as a function of deviance, mainly addiction and mental illness, there is a critical need for the sociological perspective. This entry explores the medicalization of homelessness, particularly where understandings of homelessness are conflated with disease concepts in a way that obscures social structural influences. We conclude by discussing how medicalized understandings of homelessness not only insufficiently explain it as a social problem, but impede efforts to remediate the fundamental inequalities at its foundations.

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Dignity and indignation: How people experiencing homelessness view services and providers

Cited by 82 publications

References 27 publications

Transitions through homelessness: the impact of psychosocial factors on well-being and outcomes in a homeless sample

Transitions through homelessness: the impact of psychosocial factors on well-being and outcomes in a homeless sample

Involuntary Displacements—Making a Bad Situation Worse

Homelessness, Medicalization of

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