Seeking “home”: Personal narratives and turning points in the lives of adult homeless
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Androutsopoulou, Athena
Stefanou, Maria-Marditsa
Abstract / Description
The way homeless persons construct their self-narratives and shape their identities has recently become the subject of narrative studies in the western world. The present inquiry adopts the theoretical notion that narration is the means by which the self-constructs and re-constructs her identity. This construction is organised around life’s perceived “turning points”. Eight interviews with homeless adults living in Athens, Greece were conducted. The main question guiding the interviews was: “How did you get at the present point in your life?” We focused on their past, present and future, with emphasis on possible turning points. The interviews were combined with a story-line graph which participants believed to be representative of their unfolding lives. The narrative analysis indicated that experiences of homelessness were not marked as turning points per se. Rather, four emerging themes describe other important turning points: repeated loss, (dis)connection, new “home”, freedom. Homeless persons experienced a continuity in hardship and trauma since childhood. However, their experiences, following the loss of home, were not always negative, and they expected the future to be brighter. Discussed are implications for social caring in exploring the deeper meaning of “home”. Particular suggestions are put forward for social and counselling services.
Keyword(s)
homeless narrative construction of self turning points narrative inquiryPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2018-10-31
Journal title
The European Journal of Counselling Psychology
Volume
7
Issue
1
Page numbers
126–147
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Androutsopoulou, A., & Stefanou, M.-M. (2018). Seeking “home”: Personal narratives and turning points in the lives of adult homeless. The European Journal of Counselling Psychology, 7(1), 126–147. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejcop.v7i1.150
-
ejcop.v7i1.150.pdfAdobe PDF - 361.47KBMD5: fb1fd140087272b1f52c15186e83aafa
-
There are no other versions of this object.
-
Author(s) / Creator(s)Androutsopoulou, Athena
-
Author(s) / Creator(s)Stefanou, Maria-Marditsa
-
PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-11-29T07:49:11Z
-
Made available on2018-11-29T07:49:11Z
-
Date of first publication2018-10-31
-
Abstract / DescriptionThe way homeless persons construct their self-narratives and shape their identities has recently become the subject of narrative studies in the western world. The present inquiry adopts the theoretical notion that narration is the means by which the self-constructs and re-constructs her identity. This construction is organised around life’s perceived “turning points”. Eight interviews with homeless adults living in Athens, Greece were conducted. The main question guiding the interviews was: “How did you get at the present point in your life?” We focused on their past, present and future, with emphasis on possible turning points. The interviews were combined with a story-line graph which participants believed to be representative of their unfolding lives. The narrative analysis indicated that experiences of homelessness were not marked as turning points per se. Rather, four emerging themes describe other important turning points: repeated loss, (dis)connection, new “home”, freedom. Homeless persons experienced a continuity in hardship and trauma since childhood. However, their experiences, following the loss of home, were not always negative, and they expected the future to be brighter. Discussed are implications for social caring in exploring the deeper meaning of “home”. Particular suggestions are put forward for social and counselling services.en_US
-
Publication statuspublishedVersion
-
Review statuspeerReviewed
-
CitationAndroutsopoulou, A., & Stefanou, M.-M. (2018). Seeking “home”: Personal narratives and turning points in the lives of adult homeless. The European Journal of Counselling Psychology, 7(1), 126–147. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejcop.v7i1.150en_US
-
ISSN2195-7614
-
Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1688
-
Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.2054
-
Language of contenteng
-
PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
-
Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/ejcop.v7i1.150
-
Keyword(s)homelessen_US
-
Keyword(s)narrative construction of selfen_US
-
Keyword(s)turning pointsen_US
-
Keyword(s)narrative inquiryen_US
-
Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
-
TitleSeeking “home”: Personal narratives and turning points in the lives of adult homelessen_US
-
DRO typearticle
-
Issue1
-
Journal titleThe European Journal of Counselling Psychology
-
Page numbers126–147
-
Volume7
-
Visible tag(s)Version of Record