1College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Health Soc Care Community. 2022 Sep;30(5):e2088-e2096. doi: 10.1111/hsc.13645. Epub 2021 Nov 15.
This article explores the understanding of community to families living in insecure housing in one Australian state during the COVID-19 pandemic. Five female-headed families were interviewed during the pandemic and asked to identify what community meant to them. All participants were referred by an agency caring for families experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity. Community was defined using Bourdieu's concept of social capital, allowing for both bonding and bridging relationships to be explored. Bonding relationships refer to close emotional ties with family and friends, while bridging ties establish networks that provide individuals with access to resources. Two themes emerged that shed light on how community is understood during times of crisis: The first suggests that for families experiencing housing insecurity, particularly women escaping family violence, their links with community were primarily maintained by welfare and church agencies. These organisations provided bridging social capital during the pandemic that allowed the women and their children to cope with the isolation and to maximise opportunities. The second themes point to traditional notions of community as family and geographical space. Here the findings are mixed. Resources provided by government, and mediated through the welfare agency, allowed these families to create a safe and comfortable space. However, for First Nations women, the lockdown meant that it was difficult to maintain community obligations, while children who appeared to identify community with attendance at school found the lockdown confusing because of the disruption to their normal social space.
本文探讨了在澳大利亚某州的 COVID-19 大流行期间，对居住在住房不安全家庭的社区的理解。在大流行期间，对五户女性为户主的家庭进行了采访，并要求他们确定社区对他们意味着什么。所有参与者都是由一个为无家可归或住房无保障的家庭提供服务的机构推荐的。社区是使用 Bourdieu 的社会资本概念来定义的，允许探索联系和桥梁关系。联系关系是指与家人和朋友的亲密情感联系，而桥梁关系则建立了为个人提供资源的网络。出现了两个主题，阐明了在危机时期如何理解社区：第一个主题表明，对于住房无保障的家庭，特别是逃避家庭暴力的妇女，她们与社区的联系主要是通过福利和教会机构维持的。这些组织在大流行期间提供了桥梁社会资本，使妇女及其子女能够应对隔离并最大限度地利用机会。第二个主题指向传统的社区概念，即家庭和地理空间。在这里，结果是好坏参半的。政府提供的资源，并通过福利机构进行调解，使这些家庭能够创造一个安全舒适的空间。然而，对于第一民族妇女来说，封锁意味着难以履行社区义务，而那些似乎将社区与上学联系起来的孩子则因为正常社交空间的中断而感到困惑。
