The Issue Of Homelessness And School Social Work - 1554 Words

Journal Articles Review SWK 190 Introduction to Social Work Section 01 Lauren Cartwright 2/18/16 Introduction Social work continues to be a necessary and important profession because there are such a wide variety and abundance of social issues that exist in the world today. Among these issues, one of great prevalence is homelessness. Homelessness is an important problem that needs to be directly addressed because it can lead to many other problems as well. Problems such as poor academic performance and malnutrition can arise as a result of homelessness. If the issue of homelessness is improved, many other issues can be improved as well. Two articles that contribute to addressing this issue are Examining Perceived Barriers and†¦show more content†¦The results were obtained through surveys administered in 2010 at a social work conference, with 226 subjects completing the survey in full. The majority of the subjects were female and/or Caucasian, and a most of them had achieved at least an MSW. Fifteen items were listed and the survey asked how much the social worker, on a scale from on e to five, saw the given item as a barrier. The fifteen items included but are not limited to: transience, identification, attendance, communication, personal resources, school administration, community resources, and embarrassment. Other information was gathered such as the level of licensure held, the location the social worker works at, the number of years they have practiced, and their level of awareness about homelessness. The results show that each of the fifteen items was seen as a barrier when dealing with homeless children by the participants of the study. The most widely seen barrier was transience, meaning the students have had to frequently move around a lot, which has hindered their ability to learn. Transience leads to low attendance and is correlated with poor academic performance. (Canfield, 2014) School administration was the closest to being perceived as a facilitator and not a barrier, but was still viewed as a barrier by the