Working with people experiencing homelessness

This thesis starts with an analysis of attempts to define and solve the homelessness, with a focus on service delivery in Europe and the widespread transition from the Traditional Services (TS) to the Housing First model (HF) that is changing providers’ work. Few studies are focused on social providers’ prospective and factors affecting their work and there are not standardized instruments to analyze their working context. Then, Study 1 aimed to understand how social providers, working in HF or TS, describe the goals and the principles of their services, considering the importance of belief system in the implementation of a new working model, such as HF. The data were collected through 29 focus group discussions involving 121 providers in eight European countries. Regardless of the kind of service they worked in, providers indicated that their main goal was to support clients with integration, basic needs (food, shower, health), housing requirements, and well-being. Results of the Study 1 showed that providers in both types of services had the goal of clients’ integration. Given the unclear meaning of the construct in the literature about it, Study 2 aimed to explore the feelings associated with ‘integration’ from the point of view of people experiencing homelessness. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 26 people in Italian homeless services. Feelings clustered in three spheres: the intrapersonal sphere refers to feelings that exist within a person, such as dignity and freedom; the interpersonal sphere includes feelings that emerge from interactions with other people, such as respect; and the societal sphere involves the sense of usefulness and responsibility. Moreover, it seems relevant to analyze the working context of the providers to facilitate the achievement of service’s goals. For this reason, Study 3 aimed to explore which services’ characteristics affect the work of social providers by examining differences between workers in HF and TS teams in a cross-national study. Data were collected through Photovoice projects with social providers. Overall, 17 Photovoice projects were conducted, involving 81 participants in eight European countries. The results showed factors influencing providers’ work at three levels: systemic (e.g.: institutional attitude, structural features); organizational (e.g. support among colleagues, vision); individual (e.g.: clients’ problems, balance in relationships with clients). Results for TS and HF providers were similar, however TS providers identified more obtacles. Finally, in order to compare and measure strengths and weaknesses of homeless services, Study 4 aimed to develop a questionnaire (the SErvice PROviders’ Questionnaire – SE-PRO Q) identifying organizations’ profiles. The questionnaire was created basing on the qualitative results of photovoice projects (Study 3) and it was combined with providers’ stress and well-being dimensions (burnout and work engagement). SE-PRO Q was administered to 569 social providers in 8 European countries. Through a Confirmatory Factor Analysis, SE PRO Q 24 version resulted; showing promising fit indexes and correlations to providers’ burn-out and work engagement. Overall, this thesis had the opportunity to ‘fill in’ missing pieces in our knowledge on the ecology of homelessness with a cross-national prospective and with an ecological approach. Implications of the results are discussed as suggestions to promote services facilitating work of social providers and integration of people experiencing homelessness.