Heslin Kevin C, Andersen Ronald M, Gelberg Lillian
Research Centers in Minority Institutions, Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, CA 90059, USA.
J Urban Health. 2003 Sep;80(3):371-82. doi: 10.1093/jurban/jtg051.
There are few quantitative studies on the characteristics of homeless persons who use faith-based social service providers. To help address the lack of information in this area, we analyzed survey data on 974 participants in the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Homeless Women's Health Study, a representative sample of homeless women at shelters and meal programs in Los Angeles County. The primary objective of this analysis was to estimate the association of religious affiliation, race/ethnicity, income, and other client characteristics with the use of faith-based programs. In interviews at 78 homeless shelters and meal programs, study respondents provided information about their religious affiliation and other social and demographic characteristics. The names of the organizations were examined, and those with names that referenced specific religions or contained words connoting religiosity were designated as "faith based." At the time they were selected for study participation, 52% of respondents were using the services of faith-based providers. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, lower odds of using these providers were estimated for participants with no religious affiliation (compared with Christian respondents) and for African Americans and Latinas (compared with whites). There is evidence of systematic differences between the clients of faith-based and secular social service providers. The benefits of increased funding through a federal faith-based policy initiative may accrue primarily to subgroups of clients already using faith-based programs.
关于使用基于宗教的社会服务提供者的无家可归者特征的定量研究很少。为了帮助填补这一领域的信息空白，我们分析了加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校（UCLA）无家可归女性健康研究中974名参与者的调查数据，该研究是洛杉矶县收容所和膳食项目中无家可归女性的代表性样本。这项分析的主要目的是估计宗教信仰、种族/民族、收入和其他客户特征与使用基于宗教的项目之间的关联。在对78个无家可归者收容所和膳食项目的访谈中，研究受访者提供了有关他们宗教信仰以及其他社会和人口特征的信息。对这些组织的名称进行了审查，那些名称提及特定宗教或包含暗示宗教性词汇的组织被指定为“基于宗教的”。在被选入研究参与时，52%的受访者正在使用基于宗教的提供者的服务。在多变量逻辑回归分析中，估计无宗教信仰的参与者（与基督教受访者相比）以及非裔美国人和拉丁裔（与白人相比）使用这些提供者服务的几率较低。有证据表明基于宗教的和世俗社会服务提供者的客户之间存在系统性差异。通过联邦基于宗教的政策倡议增加资金的好处可能主要归于已经在使用基于宗教项目的客户亚群体。
