Homelessness has increased in the United States over the last 15 years, but one of the most distressing trends has been the increase of homeless families. Current literature suggests that healthcare services for the homeless family may be fragmented and difficult to access. Rationale for this study was to gain understanding of homeless families, and therefore increase the effectiveness of nurses working with homeless families.This qualitative study used a Heideggerian hermaneutical phenomenological approach as the philisophical framework. A script of questions and information about the study was presented to mothers at a shelter in a group meeting. The researcher then contacted each mother to learn of the mother's desire regarding participation. Seven mothers participanted. Shelter residents were informed that they may refuse participation or withdraw from the study at any time without prejudice from the researcher. Audio-taped interviews will took place in a private vacant office at the shelter. The researcher transcribed the interviews, eliminating any information (names, cities, agencies, relatives, etc.) that could identify the participants. Transcribed interviews were analyzed for common themes identified by the mothers. Audio-tapes were destroyed after data analysis.Risks involved included possible discomfort as residents discuss issues in their past. Should a mother become emotionally distressed in the interview, the researcher was prepared to assist her to identify coping resources. i ne motners were also iniormeu that, in one unlikely event information was shared that may indicate child abuse, the researcher was required to report child abuse to the State of Indiana. Benefits included ability to express feelings in a confidential setting. A $20 item of jewelry or a household commodity was presented to participants as an honorarium after completion of the interview.The lived experience of being a homeless mother with a family can only be fully understood by the mother who has lived the experience. Six common themes were identified by the mothers who participated in this study. Lack of assistance from biological fathers, or "I can't count on him" was a contributing factor towards the mothers' circumstances. Experience of a recent traumatic event without sufficient coping skills or resources emerged as a second theme, and was described by the quote "I don't know what to do." The third theme regarding the mother's concern for meeting the needs of their children was summarized by the insight "And kid's time don't stop." The perception of ineffective or demeaning treatment by helping agencies or "They really didn't care for me" was the fourth theme. The difficulty of carrying on family life was described in the fifth theme as "Things that are hard". And finally, the sixth theme described the difficulty in finding a residence as the mothers were told by landlords repeatedly, "I really don't have anything right now."The conclusion from the study was that homeless mothers and their familys have many needs not yet met by healthcare and helping agencies. This population is overwhelmed by the stresssors they face, and principles of crisis intervention are not adequately used to assist them. At the same time, these mothers demonstrate a great deal of concern and determination to care for their children.Through this study, nurses can learn of the obstacles common to homeless mothers, and the strengths that assist homeless mothers to persist and meet the needs of their family. By better understanding homeless families, nurses can adopt a more comprehensive approach to address their healthcare needs. / School of Nursing

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This project examines the effects of the homeless body and the threat of homelessness on constructing a national imaginary that relies on the trope of locatability for recognition as a citizen-subject. The thesis argues that homelessness, the oft-figured specter of public space, functions as bodies that are “pushed out” as citizen-subjects due to their inability maintain both discursive and material location. I argue that figures of “home” rely on the ever-present threat of dislocation to maintain a privileged position as the location of the consuming citizen-subject. That is, the presence of the dislocated homeless body haunts the discursive and material construction of home and its inhabitants. Homeless then becomes the uncanny inverse of home, functioning as an abjection that reifies home “place” as an arbiter of recognition in a neoliberal national imaginary. The chapters proceed to examine what some consider homeless “homes,” focusing on the reduction of the homeless condition to a place of inhabitance, or the lack thereof. This attempt to locate the homeless body becomes a symptom of the desire for recognition as a placed body. The thesis ends on a note of political possibility, figuring the uncanny as a rupture that evacuates language of signification and opens up space for a form of recognition without an over-determined identity.

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Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / By definition, homelessness refers to general understanding of people without a home or a roof over their heads. As consequences of a number of factors, homelessness has become a serious problem especially in cities throughout the United States. Homeless people are usually most visible on the streets and in settings like shelters due to the fact that their presences and activities in public spaces are considered illegal or at least “unwanted” by city officials and by members of the public. In response to this issue, activists throughout the country have worked tiresly on behalf of homeless people to demand policy changes, an effort that resulted in the passage of the homeless bill of rights in three states, namely Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Illinois. As I discovered through my fieldwork, in Indiana, the homeless, themselves, are currently lobbying for passage of a similar measure. Locating my fieldwork on homelessness in Indianapolis in two sites, the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library (the Central Library) and the IUPUI Library, I examine the use of library buildings as alternative temporary shelters and spaces where the homeless can organize for political change. As an Indonesian ethnographer, I utilized an ethnographic approach, which helped me to reveal “Western values” and “American culture” as they play out in the context of homelessness. In this thesis, I show that there is a multi-sited configuration made up of issues, agents, institutions, and policy processes that converge in the context of the use of library buildings by the homeless. Finally, I conclude that public libraries and university libraries as well can play a more important role beyond their original functions by undertaking tangible actions, efforts, engagements, and interventions to act as allies to the homeless, who are among their most steadfast constituencies. By utilizing public university library facilities, the homeless are also finding their voices to call for justice, for better treatment, and for policies that can help ameliorate the hardship and disadvantages of homelessness.