The effects of homelessness: Literature and research

The effects of rooflessness Literature and look intoMini Paper 1interposition Research with the HomelessIntroductionThe effects of rooflessness as a social condition are both wide reaching, and difficult to grasp in its scope. It is a circumstance of varying severity, which people may incline through for different lengths of time and for different reasons, making it challenging to establish an accurate breadth of its range (Biswas-Diener Diener, 2006 Parsell, 2011). Link and colleagues (1994) have estimated that 14% of the United States may experience unsettledness at some point in their life. According to The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (2011) there may be as many as 400,000 homeless individuals in the United States on a given day, and that 1,500,000 people may experience homelessness within the span of a form (HUD, 2011). A persons familiarity with the homeless condition pass on vary depending on whether they experience it chronically, temporarily, or pe riodically (Rivlin, 1990). People may experience homelessness as a result of unemployment, natural or human-constructed adversity, mental illness, or a combination of factors (Hagen, 1987). The influences that play to the condition of homelessness may also play a flip in the progression and outcome of the person experiencing it, be it mental health or substance curse issues, personal crisis, or systemic pitfalls (Chamberlain Johnson, 2013). As a result of the potential reasons someone may enter homelessness, the rates and demographics of the homeless population vary among regions of the United States (HRI, 2012), and fluctuate in time. From the period of 2009 to 2012, homelessness as a whole decreased by 1% despite the conditions of the frugal downturn, while the number of people who would have been homeless but instead doubled up with friends or family increased by 13% during this same time period (HRI, 2012). Predictors risk problemWhile any number of circumstances may cont ribute to the condition of homelessness, The Homeless Research Institute (2012) has identified four population groups who are at an increased risk of entering homelessness people living with family and friends for economic reasons, prisoners who have been recently released, people aging out of foster care, and the medically uninsured. At its core, whether or not someone will enter or proceed the condition of homelessness is influenced by a persons income, their access to supports and social service resources, and the cost of available housing. As a result, other socioeconomic conditions associated with marginalisation can increase a persons risk of entering homelessness, such as unemployment or mental illness, and the condition of homelessness itself may even parcel out to fortify these things (Goodman, Saxe, Harvey, 1991 Thoits, 1982). Knowledge base/theoretical explanationsNo clear theory develops the phenomenon of chronic homelessness better or more appropriately than another , although the perspective adopted will affect the explanations and constructs that are accounted and controlled for within research. For example, the social estrangement model posits that upon entering homelessness people experience a general sense of hallucination and proceed to reconcile to a life-style that reinforces this estrangement (Grigsby, Baumann, Gregorich Roberts-Gray, 1990). The concept of estrangement has been adapted into a measured scale, and this model has been utilize in research to examine the reintroduction of employment into the lives of the homeless as a potential intervention to decrease ones sense of estrangement and reintegrate back into society (Ferguson et al., 2012). Social constructionism has been used to explain homelessness as an artificial construct that is used to describe an extreme form of poverty that actually exists on a spectrum, and is not the binary distinction that is used to give a blanket idea to what actually amounts to a diverse ra nge of experiences within the homeless population (Tosi, 2010). This idea has led to research and programs that course with a continuum definition of homelessness (Anderson, Tulloch, 2000). Social alienation theory has also been tested in the form of measuring the change of social support network of homeless adults across time spent homeless (Eyrich, Pollio North, 2003).Key research read/write heads/intervention proposalsBecause of the variety of factors that may exacerbate or contribute to homelessness, there are consequently any number of potential interventions and areas of concern to report. Researchers have found it useful to distinguish among cultural or demographic subgroups within the homeless population to address the concerns that appear to be more pertinent to a given subgroup (Aubry et al., 2012). Such distinctions may seek to reduce destructive behaviors or victimization associated with the homeless lifestyle itself (Justus, Burling Weingardt, 2006). From a broade r perspective, investigators may take on to identify how the homeless will best establish and maintain long-term housing (Groton, 2013), as well as how to increase retention and participation of services for the homeless in general (Padgett et al., 2008).Intervention research that concerns itself with the homeless population must make educated assumptions about the most(prenominal) salient issues worth addressing, the causes of those issues that may be controlled, and the types of outcomes that should be attained. Meaningful intervention research should attempt to identify questions that address the preventative conditions of homelessness, the exacerbating conditions that may stretch out someones experience with it, and the opportunities available to exit it.Social networks play an important role in peoples lives, and the homeless are no exception. Some forms of social support may serve to normalize the homeless experience (Auerswald and Eyre, 2002), while others may offer suppo rt for exiting homelessness (Zlotnick, Tam, Robertson, 2003). An appropriate research question in this area would ask what are the characteristics of social networks that serve to contribute to a persons successful attempts to exit homelessness? An intervention program that would attempt to capitalize on known social support networks that reinforce a persons decision to exit homelessness could be as simple as incorporating a series of questions into existing outreach programs that are designed to identify such relationships. Once these relationships are identified, practitioners could be instructed to attempt outreach with these social network members to include them in their work with their clients.One of the issues associated with homeless encampments is their proximity to necessary services (Chamard, 2010), of these healthcare access may be included. To build off of research which has identified that demographics as well as distinct lifestyles among the homeless may mean the dif ference between healthcare access or not (Nakonezny Ojeda, 2005), a further applicable research question may ask how can people living in homeless encampments attain more consistent and accessible healthcare? Intervention work in this vein could seek to implement medical outreach programs in areas known to have high concentrations of homeless encampments, identify how medical conditions are force as a result, and further modify outreach techniques depending on the results.Homeless callowness have been shown to have increased rates of victimization relative to their housed counterparts (Tyler, Gervais Davidson, 2013 Tyler Melander, 2012), and that victimization is associated with higher rates of substance use (Bender et al., 2012). Potential interventions in this area could include fusing a program designed to address substance use among homeless youth with training staff to have heightened awareness of who may be at risk for increased victimization, and address individual cas es as needed. The potential for intervention research within the homeless population is plentiful.ReferencesAnderson, I., Tulloch, D. (2000). Pathways through homelessness A review of the researchevidence. Edinburgh Scottish Homes.Aubry, T., Klodawsky, F., Coulombe, D. (2012). Comparing the housing trajectories of different classes within a diverse homeless population. American Journal Of confederation Psychology, 49(1-2), 142-155.Auerswald, C. L., Eyre, S. L. (2002). young person homelessness in San Francisco A life cycleapproach. Social Science Medicine, 54(10), 1497-1512.Bender, K., Thompson, S. J., Ferguson, K., Komlo, C., Taylor, C., Yoder, J. (2012). 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