The experience of homeless female-headed families.

Eighty-five percent of homeless families are headed by single women who are extremely vulnerable and at risk for poor physical, emotional, and social health. The purpose of this naturalistic inquiry was to describe the experiences of 16 women in homeless female-headed families. These women participated in tape-recorded interviews. The themes that emerged from the interviews were a loss of freedom, a sense of being different, feeling down, maternal survival, and living under pressure. Being homeless was compared to a nightmare in which one does not know what will happen or where one will be from day to day. Implications for nursing practice and research are discussed.