Homeless women's experiences of social support from service providers

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine homeless women's interactions with service providers and the degree to which these interactions are perceived as social support. Design/methodology/approach - Using a phenomenological approach, in-depth semistructured interviews were conducted with 15 homeless women recruited through a drop-in day shelter and a winter emergency shelter. Findings - Analysis revealed being "cared for" was experienced within service provider encounters and is commensurate with widely recognized sub-categories of received social support. Participants expressed expanded definitions of service providers and made clear distinctions between routine support expected from a provider and received social support, or being "cared for" by providers. Research limitations/implications - Studies with homeless persons that exclude service providers as a potential source of social support for homelesswomen or impose predetermined definitions of service provision may not be capturing the full range of participant encounters, relationships, networks, and experiences. Practical implications - Widely used social support measures could serve as a guide for creating education programs for persons who work with homeless people including: professional service providers, students likely to become service providers, paraprofessionals, nonprofessionals, and volunteers. Originality/value - Homeless women's voices have been added to the debate regarding whether social support is within the realm of service provision.