"I Feel Like a Somebody Again": Ethics of Care at a Shelter for Older Adults Fleeing Abuse in Canada.

Title"I Feel Like a Somebody Again": Ethics of Care at a Shelter for Older Adults Fleeing Abuse in Canada.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2025
AuthorsRichardson, LRebecca, Canham, SL, Weldrick, R, Hoselton, J, Grittner, A, Walsh, CA
JournalJ Gerontol Soc Work
Pagination1-23
Date Published2025 Feb 21
ISSN1540-4048
Abstract

Abuse against older adults is an under-researched pathway to older adult homelessness. This paper fills a gap through a secondary data analysis of qualitative interviews with five providers and 10 clients from a homeless shelter serving older adults fleeing abuse. Drawing on a feminist ethics of care framework, we explored the role of care in participants' experiences of shelter life and what aging in the right place meant to them, identifying three themes: 1) cultivating trust and relationship-building between providers and clients; 2) caregiving, mutual care, and collective care among clients; and 3) lack of care and processes of repair.

DOI10.1080/01634372.2025.2468314
Alternate JournalJ Gerontol Soc Work
PubMed ID39984296