The study adopted the inclusive European Typology of Homelessness and Housing Exclusion (ETHOS) definition [28 ], where a person was considered as experiencing homelessness if they met at least one of the following conditions:
Due to the overwhelming predominance of the extended family system in the Ghanaian culture [29 –31 ] where close and remote relatives commonly reside in compound housing style [32 ], living in conventional housing temporarily with relatives was not categorised as homelessness in this research. The 2000 and 2010 population and housing census reports showed that compound houses generally referred to as ‘family houses’ constituted 55% of the housing stock in urban Ghana [23 ].
A sample size of 200 was initially planned but 325 eligible individuals consented, out of which 305 (94%) completed the survey. Twenty individuals did not complete due to conflicting work and counselling appointments. Since there was no official data on homelessness in Ghana, the uncontrolled quota sampling technique [33 , 34 ] was used to obtain a representation of sheltered and unsheltered homeless populations. This technique was adopted because it allows the researchers the freedom to choose sample group members according to their will and/or knowledge without any restrictions. Based on the lead researcher [BOA]’s knowledge and experience in working with the homeless population in Accra, and prior reports of the unsheltered homeless being the prevalent group in Ghana [14 , 20 ], a greater number of eligible unsheltered homeless was sought as compared to the sheltered. The initial plan was to sample 70% unsheltered and 30% sheltered homeless persons, and the final sample consisted of 68% unsheltered and 32% sheltered persons. The total sample was deemed sufficient given the study purpose was to explore associations between the key predictors and the outcome without any hypothesis testing. Individuals were eligible if they were at least 18 years old and had at least six months’ experience of homelessness in Accra.
Due to the overwhelming predominance of the extended family system in the Ghanaian culture [29 –31 ] where close and remote relatives commonly reside in compound housing style [32 ], living in conventional housing temporarily with relatives was not categorised as homelessness in this research. The 2000 and 2010 population and housing census reports showed that compound houses generally referred to as ‘family houses’ constituted 55% of the housing stock in urban Ghana [23 ].
A sample size of 200 was initially planned but 325 eligible individuals consented, out of which 305 (94%) completed the survey. Twenty individuals did not complete due to conflicting work and counselling appointments. Since there was no official data on homelessness in Ghana, the uncontrolled quota sampling technique [33 , 34 ] was used to obtain a representation of sheltered and unsheltered homeless populations. This technique was adopted because it allows the researchers the freedom to choose sample group members according to their will and/or knowledge without any restrictions. Based on the lead researcher [BOA]’s knowledge and experience in working with the homeless population in Accra, and prior reports of the unsheltered homeless being the prevalent group in Ghana [14 , 20 ], a greater number of eligible unsheltered homeless was sought as compared to the sheltered. The initial plan was to sample 70% unsheltered and 30% sheltered homeless persons, and the final sample consisted of 68% unsheltered and 32% sheltered persons. The total sample was deemed sufficient given the study purpose was to explore associations between the key predictors and the outcome without any hypothesis testing. Individuals were eligible if they were at least 18 years old and had at least six months’ experience of homelessness in Accra.
Free full text: Click here
