Coping Strategies Utilized By Homeless Adolescents In The Central Business District Of The Accra Metropolitan Area

ABSTRACT

Background: Homelessness is a problem that is encountered globally. Adolescents who are homeless are very vulnerable. They face various problems and adopt various strategies to cope with the many adversities they encounter. Therefore, there is the need to identify the coping strategies that homeless adolescents within the Central Business District of the Accra metropolitan area adopt, since poor coping strategies can be detrimental to their physical and psychological health.

Objective: The aim of the study was to identify the challenges these homeless adolescents face, explore coping strategies they employ to adapt to the risks of living on the streets and explore the perceived consequences of the choices they make to their health and wellbeing.

Methods: The study was a qualitative research which sought to gain an understanding of coping methods used by adolescents who are homeless to cope with the difficulties they experience. Purposive and snowball sampling procedure was employed to select study participants. In-depth interview guide and focus group discussion guide was used to conduct the interviews and discussions. One Focus group discussion and fourteen individual in-depth interviews were also conducted. Thematic analysis was adopted to analyze information gathered from the field. The findings of this research was presented in the form of narratives.

Results: Eighteen Homeless adolescents participated in the study. The results of the study revealed that homeless adolescents experienced various challenges which included; difficulty securing safe accommodation and poor infrastructure, stigmatization, threat of physical and sexual assault and economic hardships. The strategies they adopted to cope with the various challenges they encountered include; relying on personal attributes they possessed, hope and optimism, engaging in sexual relationships, social support from peers, substance use and spirituality. With regards to their perceptions on the consequences of their choices on their health, some participants were ignorant of the negative health consequences of their coping mechanisms on their health and others also believed that their coping styles would lead to improvement in their physical and emotional health.

Conclusion: The study established that homeless adolescents experience various challenges that can affect their physical and mental health. The coping strategies they adopted to help them cope with their challenges included some problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies. Problem-focused coping enabled them to have a positive outlook in life, improved their mental health and made them make efforts to improve their lives whiles emotion-focused coping such as substance use and having unprotected sex put them at risk of physical and psychological problems.