Interactional analysis of chronic male homelessness: Respondents' perspective on homelessness, substance abuse, criminality/criminal history and efficacy of homeless services.

摘要

This study is an analysis of qualitative interviews of eleven homeless male respondents about homelessness, substance abuse, criminality/criminal history, and mental illness in addition to participant observation (ethnography) with homeless persons within the Cass corridor area and the Central Business District in Detroit, Michigan. The respondents responded to a series of questions about their gateway to homelessness, their community/environment, the adequacy of services, and the services that they believed are essential to help them overcome homelessness. The researcher as a participant-observer interacted with the respondents and other homeless persons in their community/environment by utilizing the same services that they utilized to maintain their homeless status, and by getting to know them as individuals and, also, as social types (Thomas and Znanieck 1918).