What's Wrong?: Incivilities in a Homeless Shelter

• In Event: Posters II

Abstract

Research has yet to identify and explain staff responses to incivilities in the context of a homeless shelter. Using a mixed methods design to integrate data from a homeless shelter serving 1100 people each day, my research examines how frontline staff identify, intervene, and sanction client incivilities. In the first phase of the study a sample of one year of archival logs, representing approximately 10,000 unique textual entries, has been quantified for denotative content analysis. These logs are personal accounts by frontline staff of client behaviour which often include information on the incident, location, persons involved and outcome including sanction. A second, qualitative phase of interviews with staff will be conducted to explain perceptions of client incivility that affected the decision for intervention and why sanctions are (or are not) implemented. Findings from the first phase are considered with attention to the types, patterns and frequency of staff identified incivilities to provide a benchmark of incivility in a shelter.

Author

• Valerie Salt, University of Calgary