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Enhancing Empowerment and Leadership Among Homeless Youth in Agency and Community Settings: A Grounded Theory Approach.

The purpose of this qualitative study with homeless youth (ages 18-24) was to understand their involvement in decision-making within agency and community settings. Three focus groups with eight, six and six homeless youth were conducted at an urban drop-in center and shelter from June to August 2008...

Full description

Published in:Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal Vol. 28; no. 1; pp. 1 - 23
Main Authors: Ferguson, Kristin, Kim, Min, McCoy, Stacy
Format: Article
Published: Springer Nature Feb2011
Subjects:
Decision making
Focus groups
Homelessness
Qualitative research
Grounded theory
Thematic analysis
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Summary:The purpose of this qualitative study with homeless youth (ages 18-24) was to understand their involvement in decision-making within agency and community settings. Three focus groups with eight, six and six homeless youth were conducted at an urban drop-in center and shelter from June to August 2008. Emergent themes include youth voice and ownership in agency and community programming, emotional safety, power and reciprocal support. Grounded theory is used to interpret findings and develop working hypotheses to guide future studies on empowering homeless youth to assume greater leadership involvement in their own lives, in social service agencies and in their surrounding communities.