Mothering in the margin: a narrative inquiry of women with children in a homeless shelter

Azim, Katharina A.; MacGillivray, Laurie; Heise, Donalyn

doi:10.1080/10530789.2018.1548091

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Shelter workers’ ideas of what mothers needed were often misaligned with the women’s own perceptions of their needs (Gültekin et al., 2014). Similarly, Azim, MacGillivray, and Heise (2019) used narrative inquiry exploring women’s mothering experiences while residing in a homeless shelter with their children. Five themes were identified: (a) knowing your child, (b) mothering on shelter time, (c) mothering with restricted mobility, (d) mothering in absence, and (e) mothering other children.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spaces of Exclusion: Safety, Stigma, and Surveillance of Mothers Experiencing Homelessness

et al. 2019

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Lack of affordable housing, poverty, and intimate partner violence are among the most common reasons for homelessness among mothers and their children in Canada. Mothers experience social exclusion in compounding and debilitating ways. In the literature on social exclusion and health, rarely is safety recognized as a prominent component of social exclusion. The purpose of this critical narrative study was to better understand the unique narratives of social exclusion for mothers experiencing homelessness in Ontario. A critical narrative methodology with an intersectional lens was used. Twenty-six ( N = 26) mothers participated in the study. The overarching finding of unsafe spaces represents the unique forms of exclusion from safety participants experienced in public and private spaces. Emerging out of this overarching category are two intertwined subcategories of (a) exclusion from safety and (b) stigma: public surveillance and discrimination. Participants’ narratives of exclusion from safety signify an ecosystem of unsafe spaces. The findings illuminate and reiterate the imperative for nurses to recognize that safety is a human right and is foundational for health. Nurses can use critical self-reflection and challenge the inherent “nursing gaze” to promote spaces of support rather than surveillance and engage in political advocacy to address structural inequalities, such as gender-based violence.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Researchers noted that participants’ mothering was judged and at times undermined by service providers. Mothering while in shelter did not meet forms of “appropriate mothering” as noted within dominant hegemonic views of mothering (Azim et al., 2019, p. 37).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spaces of Exclusion: Safety, Stigma, and Surveillance of Mothers Experiencing Homelessness

et al. 2019

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“…Systemic and endemic sexism manifests itself in relation to women's homelessness, creating potentially greater protections in certain circumstances, but in ways that also distort the nature and extent of women's homelessness in Europe. Being without a home not only deprives women of a space to perform mothering activities, but intensifies surveillance (Henderson et al, 2016;Azim et al, 2019). Early childhood privation, including poverty and homelessness, have also been associated with later negative outcomes for health and wellbeing (Radcliff et al, 2019;Walsh et al, 2019), with an understanding of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) as a key driver of adult marginalisation becoming a dominant narrative among service providers (Borgonovi and Huerta, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘It Matters How They See You’: ‘Maternal Activation’ As a Strategy to Navigate Contradictory Discourses of Motherhood and Neoliberal Activism in the Welsh Homelessness System

England,

Henley

2024

Social Policy and Society

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Despite increasing attention to the importance of gender as an analytic to understanding neoliberal welfare reform, little attention has been paid to how motherhood operates to structure experiences. We propose the term ‘maternal activation’ to describe how homeless mothers as a group are subject to, and yet repurpose and resist, specific forms of social control characterising neoliberal paternalistic welfare structures. Drawing on a Critical Discourse Analysis of semi-structured interviews with fifty-four frontline homelessness workers, and eighteen homeless mothers, within the newly conditionalised Welsh homelessness system, we argue that homeless mothers have distinct experiences of neoliberal welfare governance. They navigate contradictory demands of attentive caregiving and economically engaged citizenship, amid devaluation of care created by a neoliberal emphasis on entrepreneurialism. However, performing intense motherhood offers strategic advantage for homeless mothers by enabling them to be read as ‘legible’. This highlights the utility of motherhood as a framework to understand welfare citizenship.

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“…For example, having unstable accommodation can hinder access to reliable contraception and pre-natal health services ( 24 , 25 ). Furthermore, navigating motherhood in the context of transition houses or shelters raises specific issues in respect to parent-child relationships ( 26 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barriers to Accessing Addiction Treatment for Women at Risk of Homelessness

Rizzo

Cotroneo

et al. 2022

Front. Glob. Womens Health

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Women remain under-represented in addiction treatment, comprising less than a third of clients in treatment services. Shame, stigma, and fear of legal and social repercussions (e.g., child protection involvement) are major barriers impacting on treatment-seeking for women. This is compounded for women at risk of homelessness, with practical and logistical reasons for not engaging in treatment. We conducted a qualitative study with both clinicians and service-providers, and women with lived experience of addiction and at risk of homelessness, to identify barriers to access and help-seeking within this vulnerable population. Adult women with lived experience of homelessness and addiction were invited to participate in an online focus group. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using framework analysis. Analysis resulted in the identification of barriers to access in three areas. These were system-related, socio-cultural, and emotional barriers. We also present findings from the focus group recorded in real-time, using the novel method of digital illustration. This study highlights key factors impacting on help-seeking and access to treatment for addiction faced by women at risk of homelessness. The findings of this study highlight important areas of consideration for clinicians and service-providers working with women who experience addiction, as well as informing future research directions for this priority population. Findings are discussed in the context of exigent literature.

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Mothering in the margin: a narrative inquiry of women with children in a homeless shelter

Cited by 14 publications

References 27 publications

Spaces of Exclusion: Safety, Stigma, and Surveillance of Mothers Experiencing Homelessness

Spaces of Exclusion: Safety, Stigma, and Surveillance of Mothers Experiencing Homelessness

‘It Matters How They See You’: ‘Maternal Activation’ As a Strategy to Navigate Contradictory Discourses of Motherhood and Neoliberal Activism in the Welsh Homelessness System

Barriers to Accessing Addiction Treatment for Women at Risk of Homelessness

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