The everyday life of the homeless: disruptions, sociabilities, wishes and possibilities of Occupational Therapy intervention

• Main Authors: Waldez Cavalcante Bezerra, Gabriela Cristina da Silva Firmino, Emanuely Santos Javarrotti, Jéssica Veríssimo de Medeiros Melo, Priscila Ferreira Fragoso Calheiros, Rodrigo Gonçalves Lima Borges da Silva
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de São Carlos 2015-07-01
• Series: Cadernos de Terapia Ocupacional
• Subjects: Homeless; Social Vulnerability; Occupational Therapy
• Online Access: http://www.cadernosdeterapiaocupacional.ufscar.br/index.php/cadernos/article/view/1005

Introduction: There are many homeless people living in Brazilian cities, configuring a collective problem that has challenged the state-owned power to implement actions to revert the situation of extreme exclusion that affects these people. Objective: To know and discuss the everyday life of people living in the streets of Maceió, Alagoas state. Methods: This article presents part of the results of a research that had as main objective tracing the profile of the street population that attends a public hostel from the public social assistance network of the city of Maceió, identifying possible demands of intervention through occupational therapy. It consists of a qualitative study, accomplished with 37 individuals who attend this public hostel, whose data were analyzed through content analysis. Results and discussion: The main processes of entering and living in the streets (disruptions, sociabilites, wishes) are discussed, acknowledging the social complexity of the concerned phenomenon, based on the heterogeneity of the researched group, as well as on the possible occupational therapy interventions related to the demands presented.