IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i16p5985-d400404.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cycle of Perpetual Vulnerability for Women Facing Homelessness near an Urban Library in a Major U.S. Metropolitan Area

Author

Listed:
  • Janny S. Li

    (School of Social Work, San Diego State University (SDSU), San Diego, CA 92182, USA)

  • Lianne A. Urada

    (School of Social Work, San Diego State University (SDSU), San Diego, CA 92182, USA
    Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego (UCSD), La Jolla, CA 92093, USA)

Abstract

Background: Homelessness among women and the multiple vulnerabilities they endure (sexual exploitation/human trafficking, violence, and mental health issues) is a perpetually unresolved issue in the U.S. and globally. Methods: This study is based on qualitative in-depth interviews accompanied by brief socio-demographic surveys conducted among 32 total participants, consisting of cisgender females ( n = 17) and cisgender males ( n = 15) experiencing homelessness at a large public library. Results: Of the women, 35% were White, 35% Latina, 18% African American/Black, and 18% LGBT. Half of all participants said in qualitative interviews that they witnessed violence against women, and/or experienced unwanted harassment/sexual exploitation; one in three described suspected human trafficking. Of the women interviewed, half struggled with mental health symptoms, feelings of hopelessness, and nearly all reported isolation; approximately one-third had substance use issues. Many described an inadequate number of emergency and long-term shelters Available for women facing homelessness; many had to wait or saw other women waiting to get into shelters and faced abuse on the streets in the meantime. Conclusion: The emergent themes showed that women face a “cycle of perpetual vulnerability” with three relational pathways: iterated trauma from chronic abuse/violence inflicted on them, a state of paralysis due to inadequate availability of supportive services, shelters, and mental health resources to cover all women living on the streets, leaving women susceptible to being a target phenotype for predators.

Suggested Citation

  • Janny S. Li & Lianne A. Urada, 2020. "Cycle of Perpetual Vulnerability for Women Facing Homelessness near an Urban Library in a Major U.S. Metropolitan Area," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-16, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:16:p:5985-:d:400404
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/16/5985/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/16/5985/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Riley, E.D. & Cohen, J. & Knight, K.R. & Decker, A. & Marson, K. & Shumway, M., 2014. "Recent violence in a community-based sample of homeless and unstably housed women with high levels of psychiatric comorbidity," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(9), pages 1657-1663.
    2. Lianne A. Urada & Janie Simmons & Betty Wong & Kiyomi Tsuyuki & Gerlita Condino-Enrera & Laufred I. Hernandez & Nymia Pimentel Simbulan & Anita Raj, 2016. "A human rights-focused HIV intervention for sex workers in Metro Manila, Philippines: evaluation of effects in a quantitative pilot study," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 61(8), pages 945-957, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anna Matheson & Jacquie Kidd & Heather Came, 2021. "Women, Patriarchy and Health Inequalities: The Urgent Need to Reorient Our Systems," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-4, April.
    2. Lianne A. Urada & Melanie J. Nicholls & Stephen R. Faille, 2022. "Homelessness at the San Diego Central Library: Assessing the Potential Role of Social Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-20, July.
    3. Mounah Abdel-Samad & Jerel P. Calzo & Jennifer K. Felner & Lianne Urada & Matthew E. Verbyla & Hala Madanat & Brian E. Adams & Thais Alves & Bruce Appleyard & Joshua Chanin & Shawn Flanigan & Hisham F, 2021. "Conceptualizing an Interdisciplinary Collective Impact Approach to Examine and Intervene in the Chronic Cycle of Homelessness," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-17, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nicky J. Mehtani & Chika C. Chuku & Meredith C. Meacham & Eric Vittinghoff & Samantha E. Dilworth & Elise D. Riley, 2023. "Housing Instability Associated with Return to Stimulant Use among Previously Abstaining Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(19), pages 1-10, September.
    2. Jessica L. Mackelprang & Janessa M. Graves & Halle M. Schulz, 2024. "Using Photovoice to Explore Determinants of Health among Homeless and Unstably Housed Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(2), pages 1-13, February.
    3. Lianne A. Urada & Maia Rusakova & Veronika Odinokova & Kiyomi Tsuyuki & Anita Raj & Jay G. Silverman, 2019. "Sexual Exploitation as a Minor, Violence, and HIV/STI Risk among Women Trading Sex in St. Petersburg and Orenburg, Russia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-14, November.
    4. Tsai, Alexander C. & Burns, Bridget F.O., 2015. "Syndemics of psychosocial problems and HIV risk: A systematic review of empirical tests of the disease interaction concept," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 26-35.
    5. Lianne A. Urada & Andrés Gaeta-Rivera & Jessica Kim & Patricia E. Gonzalez-Zuniga & Kimberly C. Brouwer, 2021. "Mujeres Unidas: Addressing Substance Use, Violence, and HIV Risk through Asset-Based Community Development for Women in the Sex Trade," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-17, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:16:p:5985-:d:400404. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.