Running head: INTERVENTION IN HOMELESS FAMILIES: PHASE 3

Intervention in Homeless Families: Phase 3

Jessica L. Eckmeter
Wayne State University

INTERVENTION IN HOMELESS FAMILIES: PHASE 3

Abstract
Homeless families make up 36% of homeless people. Many problems begin to occur
among both sheltered and unsheltered homeless families including loss of family role and
increased stress for children, leading to behavioral problems. The multiple-family group
weekend retreat intervention addresses these problems among sheltered families, teaching
participants how to cope with stress, communicate better and reaffirm each persons role within
the family unit. This approach utilizes the strengths of each family member, while empower them
to make decisions which can contribute to the betterment of their entire family.
Keywords: homeless, family, intervention, multiple-family group

INTERVENTION IN HOMELESS FAMILIES: PHASE 3

Statement of the Problem

Homelessness among families is a serious problem in the United States today. The
Department of Housing and Urban Development published a report to Congress about
homelessness in the United States which contained statistics about the number of homeless
families. On a given night in January 2013 36% of homeless people represented homeless
families, 86% were sheltered. Among the chronically homeless, families make up 15%. (Henry,
M., Cortes, A., Morris, S., 2013, p. 22-30) There are various organizations aiming to alleviate
family homelessness with knowledge of the various causes. These causes include the lack of
affordable housing, difficulty obtaining living wage jobs, a need for affordable childcare, and
domestic violence.
The causes of family homelessness can be seen and intervened with on both a macro and
micro level. On the macro level, increases in wages, more subsidized housing and affordable or
subsidized childcare could all make the goal of a permanent home more attainable to families
who are currently homeless. On the micro level intervention in domestic violence has the
potential to keep families together, and keep victims out of shelters.
Looking at the root causes of family homelessness can better help in planning
intervention methods both on the local and national level. An illness or accident can be all that it
takes to push an entire family into homelessness. In addition to alleviating the problem of
homelessness, aiming to prevent it for the families that are on the brink of losing their homes can
help bring those numbers down, as such a small percentage of homeless families are chronically
homeless. Education plays a large role in keeping people off of the street and out of shelters.

INTERVENTION IN HOMELESS FAMILIES: PHASE 3

Financial planning, saving and access to resources can prevent this from becoming a problem for
many families.
One of the biggest challenges in relieving homelessness among families is getting the
chronically homeless out of the cycle that makes obtaining stable employment and being able to
support a family so difficult. Once a person is homeless basic needs that can help a parent obtain
employment, such as access to professional clothing, maintaining professional hygiene and
having the rest and food needed to concentrate and successfully interview become growing
hurdles.
Aside from homelessness as a problem in and of itself, the impact this situation has on
families can be damaging to the family unit as a whole. Parental figures have trouble holding
onto their roles as caregivers and providers in a shelter setting, particularly in families that have
both teenage girls and younger children. (Lindsey, 1998)
Research Design
The research design is the plan for a research study. In A Multiple-Family Group
Intervention for Homeless Families: The Weekend Retreat the most accurate way to describe this
research design is a as a pretest-posttest design. Referral to the study by shelter case workers and
directors served as a pretest, with three focal objectives: role clarification, communication, and
decreasing child behavioral problems, and two themes: strengthening families, and families
have fun together. A brief evaluation survey at the end of the retreat was used as a post-test to
measure how successful families felt the retreat was in helping them to deal with stress and feel
positive about themselves, among other variables.

INTERVENTION IN HOMELESS FAMILIES: PHASE 3

Originally the multiple-family group Intervention research plan consisted of meeting with
twenty families weekly over eight weeks, but at the end of the study only six families remained
and the study was reconfigured to consist of a single weekend retreat. This weekend retreat is
the primary focus of the research article, though it is notable that the original research design
failed due to families in the multiple-family group Intervention moving out of shelters for
various reasons.
The weekend retreats were held on Friday evenings from 5:30 PM until 8:00 PM and
continued on Saturday from 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM in a community church centrally located in a
mid-south metropolitan area. (Davey, 2004, p. 327) The specific name of the church and city are
not mentioned in this article.
Sampling
Research participants were recruited by social workers and directors in shelters near the
church in which the weekend retreat was held. Thirty-nine total families, including sixty-two
children participated in five multiple-family group weekend retreats, of which 57% of the
families were African American and 77% had single female parents with a mean average of 1.84
elementary school-age children with an average age of 7.95. (Davey, 2004, p. 327)
The article does not specifically define the sampling method, but from the information
given above the sampling method is a non-probability criterion sample with elements of an
availability/convenience sampling method. Subjects were chosen from those in shelters who met
the criteria of being a family with at least one school aged child. Using sheltered homeless
families as a criteria limited those in the homeless population researchers could choose from.
Measurement

INTERVENTION IN HOMELESS FAMILIES: PHASE 3

The variables in the multiple-family group weekend retreat study were focused on in four
separate sessions and include building trust, identifying family strengths, communication, stress
management, and decision making responsibilities. Within these sessions the examined variables
included parents coping ability, interpersonal interactions and family socialization, and parental
authority and responsibility. Many possible variables were discussed throughout the article, and
specific variables were not clearly stated, though the last three mentioned seemed to be the
primary focus of the study. The changes in these variables were evaluated through a survey at the
end of the retreat evaluating the opinions of parents and children participating in the study.
Data Collected
Data collected focused on the attitudes of family members upon completion of the
weekend retreat. An evaluative survey near the end of the weekend was the primary means in
which data was collected, though this was interpreted by the social workers and volunteer social
work students who also observed the behaviors and impact of the retreat activities.
Participants reported favorable opinions on how activities within the retreat helped them
to cope with stress and feel positive about themselves. The primary finding in this study is that
social support is a key factor in reducing anxiety, isolation and helplessness in homeless families.
Through working with groups homeless families were better able to learn coping and stress
management skills, define family roles, and increase communication within their own families.
Ethics and Cultural Considerations
The multiple-family group weekend retreat is an effective method for helping parents
reclaim their role, but does not address the problem of homelessness as a whole. It does not
alleviate homelessness, but it does prepare the family to have better interaction, communication

INTERVENTION IN HOMELESS FAMILIES: PHASE 3

and role definition both in the shelter system and for their future once they are able to find
housing and employment. Better functioning in the home can improve child behavior and
minimize problems that contribute to unemployment.
The intervention method is sensitive to the unique cultural characteristics of homeless
families as it takes into consideration the problems specific to this group and empowers family
members to take control of the factors in the family in which they can change. This intervention
method also takes the pressure from individual members of homeless families by discussing the
responsibility of each member in a group setting that allows families to gain support from each
other. It utilizes role-playing rather than requesting personal examples of both destructive and
constructive behaviors, which is sensitive to homeless family members needs.
Ethical concerns were not mentioned in this article at all, though it is safe to say that as
the weekend retreat staff was comprised of entirely social workers and the journal that published
the article is published on behalf of the NASW, the NASW code of ethics was likely followed.
Informed consent was not mentioned, but a briefing was implied to have occurred in Section
One: Building Trust Identifying Family Strengths where Timothy L. Davey mentions that the
families were helped to identify some of the concerns participants wanted to work on during the
retreat. No harm was done to any of the participants in the study, and participants were invited,
not mandated to attend the retreat, both being ethical requirements for research.
Results and Implications
This intervention method addresses the problem of damage to a family unit caused by
homelessness, but does not address the causes of homelessness directly. The multiple-family
group weekend retreat intervention alleviates role ambiguity, teaches families how to work

INTERVENTION IN HOMELESS FAMILIES: PHASE 3

together as a unit, in a setting that typically results in reliance on outside sources of support, and
teaches family members better ways to cope with and prevent stress. These benefits to
participants can help them stay emotionally healthy during homelessness and once they are out
of the shelter may help them to stay out of the shelter. These benefits can increase confidence
and a sense of empowerment to homeless family members, both of which are beneficial when
seeking employment, as unemployment is one of the leading causes of family homelessness.
The activities in this intervention contribute to alleviation of homelessness. In session
one, families are reminded that they must build on their strengths in order to create positive
change in their lives. Session two helped participants focus on communication skills which will
help parents to engage in their childrens lives, keeping them away from the habits that can
perpetuate homelessness or make it more difficult to recover from. Session three taught
participant families how to identify stress as an indicator that change must occur (Davey, 2004,
p. 328) and how working together can help solve the problems that lead to stress. Session four
brought attention to the shared responsibility of every family member in making decisions that
help the family, helping each member to understand the important role they play.
Practitioners leading this intervention would need to have experience in working with
groups and people of all ages. This study had several social workers collaborating including a
social worker from a school homeless education program and a clinical social worker. Each
social worker brought different experiences that were important in making this intervention
successful. Skill and experience in working with children is necessary to conduct an intervention
like this, but also an ability to work with parents in a manner that empowers them rather than

INTERVENTION IN HOMELESS FAMILIES: PHASE 3

demeans them. Experience in working with shelters and the impoverished would be a strong tool
in a social workers arsenal for this intervention as well.
The agency that I will be doing my field placement with in the fall is a shelter that only
works with victims of domestic violence. There are many barriers to making an intervention such
as this one work in such an agency, primarily the risk of abuse to members of the family trying to
flee an abusive family member. The first session in this intervention, building trust, could be a
much bigger hurdle to an abuse victim than it would members of a family who are homeless
under different circumstances. Scheduling may also prove to be a barrier in this setting, as the
homeless who are employed likely work a lower paying job with atypical hours.

INTERVENTION IN HOMELESS FAMILIES: PHASE 3

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References
Davey, T. (2004). A multiple family group intervention for homeless families: the weekend
retreat. Health & Social Work, 29(4), 326-329.
Henry, M., Cortes, A., Morris, S. (2013) The 2013 Annual Homeless Assessment Report
(AHAR) to Congress. Retrieved from
https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/ahar-2013-part1.pdf
Lindsey, E. (1998). The Impact of Homelessness and Shelter Life on Family Relationships.
Family Relations, 47(1240), 243-243. Retrieved
http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/ehost/detail/detail?sid=a5adae0d-5fcb4fc7-acd2-048135ad688e
%40sessionmgr113&vid=3&hid=115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1
zaXRl#db=swh&AN=65322
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INTERVENTION IN HOMELESS FAMILIES: PHASE 3

Onolemhemhen, D. (2015). Measurement. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from

https://blackboard.wayne.edu/webapps/blackboard/execute/displayIndividualContent?
course_id=_1104448_1&content_id=_5030323_1&mode=reset
Onolemhemhen, D. (2015). Research design. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
https://blackboard.wayne.edu/webapps/blackboard/execute/displayIndividualContent?
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Rubin, A., Babbie, E. (2013). Essential Research Methods for Social Work (3rd ed.). Belmont,
CA: Brooks/Cole.

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