Qualitative analysis of selected literature sources addressing the issue of homelessness.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this article is to answer the main research question, which reads: "How is the issue of homelessness presented in the relevant literature?" Basic terms related to homelessness and homeless people are defined at the beginning of the article. Homelessness is a complex social problem, with many factors contributing to its origin and development that can, in principle, be divided into objective and subjective factors.

METHODS: A qualitative research strategy was chosen to address the main research question. Analysis of documents using content analysis was used as the research tool. The research sample consisted of three articles, two chapters, and two subchapters in a monograph. The three analyzed sources were in English, three in the Slovak language, and one in the Czech language.

RESULTS: It was found that the issue could be viewed from both health-related and social perspectives. None of the authors, whose publications were analyzed, preferred a "purely" health-related or a "purely" social welfare view of the issue of homelessness. We identified three types of perspectives (approaches) related to the care of homeless people: health & social, preferred health care, and preferred social care. Both components of care are more or less represented in each of the three types of care.

CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that the issue of homelessness cannot be viewed from a single perspective (either health or social), since it requires an interdisciplinary approach and cooperation of both healthcare professionals and social welfare experts to address the unfavorable social situations associated with homelessness.