State of the art:

Homelessness as a topic has been widely studied and addressed. Studies have found that homeless people face multiple adversities, ranging from mental health disorders to a lack of basic needs (Rakus and Singleton-Jackson, 2024). However, despite being more vulnerable to the threats posed by homelessness, women are underrepresented and under-researched while being less prone to apply for or make use of formal support services (Lenta et al., 2025; Rakus and Singleton-Jackson, 2024). Women tend to avoid ‘literal homelessness’ using informal support networks, such as ‘sofa-surfing’, to delay entering the formal system, however, studies show that it ends up being more harmful in the long term (McGrath et al. 2023). Intimate partner violence (IPV) is one of the main causes of homelessness in women, and it persists within both the informal and formal support networks (McGrath et al., 2023; Rakus and Singleton-Jackson, 2024). IPV, alongside the misuse of drugs and alcohol, might create long-lasting trauma and cause mental health issues, worsening their present-day situation even further while most likely conditioning them after exiting homelessness (Guillén et al. 2024). It is at this point that academic literature stagnates. There is scarce literature on the transition from homelessness to housing, and it mostly focuses on how economically successful it was. In contrast, this research project seeks to answer the question: How does homelessness impact women’s identity formation? To do so, three objectives have been identified and outlined:

1. analyse and explain how women rebuild their identities after homelessness,
2. describe faithfully women’s experiences of homelessness through I-poems, and
3. explain how homelessness can be a product of structural inequalities.

Project description:

The project utilises an existing dataset obtained from narrative life story interviews with 20 women, which will be analysed using the method of I-poems alongside some sample demographic information. This distinctive method emerged from feminist scholarship prioritising participants’ voices and subjectivities, it is expected to achieve a deeper understanding and empathy for the women’s life stories. The aim is to enhance our understanding of homelessness as a structural issue, shifting away from individualising and stigmatising narratives that often “blame” individuals for homelessness, and helping us comprehend how homelessness impacts women’s identity rebuilding. The expected outputs of this research project are:

1. a report around seven pages long outlining the key findings from the dataset,
2. a set of presentation slides (5-7) outlining the key findings from the dataset meant to be shown at conferences to non-experts, and
3. a yet-to-be-determined number of I-poems based on the dataset.

Examining women’s situations through a life story approach allows us to shed light on less frequently heard stories. This may both de-stigmatise narratives of multiple exclusion homelessness and facilitate the development of earlier, more effective interventions, thus helping not just homeless women but everyone who finds themselves in a precarious situation. 

            Methodology:

I-poems are a part of the Listening Guide (Gilligan, 2015), a qualitative method of analysis initially developed for psychology from a feminist perspective to challenge the dominant positivist trend. It was “designed to help researchers become attuned to the multiple and often conflicted voices of participants” (Koelsch, 2015), achieved by empowering participants’ subjective voices, thereby strengthening their stories (Dodding and Partington, 2024). Gilligan (2015) outlines three types of listening within the method. The first is the Listening of the Plot, which seeks to identify the narrative of the story. The second is the Listening of the I, where the researcher aims to understand the sense of self and agency; from this listening, the I-poems are created. Each “I-statement” is separated according to its order of appearance, after which the researcher selects which statements will form the poem. The third is the Listening for Contrapuntal Voices, which aims to highlight contradictions and provide an additional layer of analysis. Koelsch (2015) states that the Listening Guide has been commonly used when researching marginalised groups, implying its exceptional worth when dealing with participants whose voices are normally unheard due to their opinions clashing with what is socially expected. Considering the objectives proposed, I believe the Listening Guide will be exceptionally helpful when trying to strengthen the voices of homeless women. Nevertheless, it should be considered that despite that the researcher cannot alter the sentences nor change their order, they still hold the final say in what goes in the poem, thus, the poem is subject to the researcher’s bias, which should be accounted for when evaluating the validity of the poem.

Considering the objectives and outputs proposed and the sensitive nature of the material, this will be the schedule for the project:

• Weeks 1-2: Become familiar with the dataset and go through the three listenings.
• Week 3: Put together the I-poems.
• Weeks 4-6: Write the report with the findings and prepare the presentation.

Bibliography:

 Dodding, J and Partington, H. (2024) 'I poems and polyvocality: experiences of using a combined qualitative creative analysis technique to strengthen the voices of research participants and aid reflexivity', in K., Helen, M., Dawn and R., Alastair (eds) The Handbook of Creative Data Analysis. Bristol: Policy Press, pp. 215-226.

Gilligan, C. (2015) ‘The Listening Guide method of psychological inquiry’, Qualitative Psychology, 2, pp. 69–​ 77. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/qup0000023

Guillén, A., Panadero, S., and Vázquez, J. (2024). ‘The Effects of Traumatic Events on Mental Health Among Women Experiencing Homelessness: A Longitudinal Study.’ Violence against women, 30, pp. 3900–3916. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012231178002.

Koelsch, L. E. (2015). ‘I poems: Evoking self. Qualitative Psychology’, 2(1), pp. 96-107. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000021

McGrath, J., Crossley, S., Lhussier, M. and Forster, N. (2023). ´Social capital and women’s narratives of homelessness and multiple exclusion in northern England’. International Journal for Equity in Health, 22 (41). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-023-01846-1

Lenta, M., Di Iorio, J and Vázquez, J. (2025). 'Intersectional Anticipated Discrimination Among Women Experiencing Homelessness in Argentina', Journal of Community Psychology, 53. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.23171

Rakus, M. and Singleton-Jackson, J. (2024). 'Homelessness and Intimate Partner Violence: Women's Experiences with Accessing Formal Support Services and the Impact of Their Intersecting Identities', Affilia: Feminist Inquiry in Social Work, 39 (4), pp. 628-643. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/08861099241233565