Taking risks and coping with them : the role of risk negotiation among homeless mothers' self identity

Abstract

This study deals with a group of homeless women, particularly mothers, who at some point in their lives have found themselves residing in a shelter for homeless women in Valletta. The interest in this topic arose in the first instance from my concern regarding the condition of women in contemporary Maltese society. My fieldwork started out as an analysis of battered women in Malta, but as the research progressed, I came to realise that another group of women was emerging as important in the study. I his group was homeless women who were separated and/or single mothers. The focus of my research is on risk analysis and identity construction among these women during a particular time in their lives and setting - the shelter.